(no subject)

[rm]

said in response to splix on the subject of Dune, respoted here, because it will probably be useful to me in _something_ and because it's relevant to some other recent posts of mine:

There's something distasteful about always being the power _behind_ something, no matter how powerful you are and then having to couch it all in pride and endurance.

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Agreed and understood. On a related note, I first read Dune when I was 10, and I enjoyed it. However, when i attempted to reread it at age 19, I was unable to enjoy it (or even get beyond page 80 or so), in large part because it was one of the most impressively sexist novels I've ever attempted to read. When I then looked at some of Herbert's other works, I discovered that Dune was but one of many in this regard. I've rarely seen an author with as many issues about women.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I still love the books, and having affinity for characters that wind up fucking themselves by getting involved in backstage power struggles, the Bene Gesserit issue acutally, oddly, doesn't pain me from a gender perspective. But yeah.