There are so many things to adore about the reissue of Peter Beard's The End of the Game that I hardly know where to begin. Suffice to say this book will be much talked about here in August, as part of that month's literary discussion and will also be included in the feature I'm working on for Bookslut that month. Consider just this part of the introduction to the new edition from Paul Theroux:
"And now Africa, 'basking in the antiquest sun' is the happy hunting ground of the mythomaniac, the rock star buffing up his or her image, the missionary with a faith to sell, the child buyer, the retailer of dirty drugs or toxic cigarettes, the editor in search of a scoop, the empire builder, the aid worker, the tycoon wishing to rid himself of his millions, the experimenting economist, the diamond merchant, the oil executive, the explorer, the slave trader, the eco-tourist, the adventure traveler, the bird watcher, the travel writer, the escapee, the colonial and his crapulosities, the banker, the wanker, the Mandela sniffer, the political fantasist, the buccaneer, the bullshitter and your cousin the Peace Corps volunteer."
He continues later with this killer statement:
"A common denominator in this assortment of foreign visitors - high-minded pests and exploiters alike - is their wish to transform themselves while claiming they want to change Africa."
I hate to pick on her, but wow - do I hear Madonna's unspoken name in there or what?
In other news, this is just not true for many reasons. As someone who worked in a male dominated industry (and went to a male dominated school in a male dominated subject and later taught male dominated classes and now writes primarily about male characters) I really think that I have a handle on what "bookslut" means and why it is funny and not denigrating to women. Beyond that though, what grates about this essay is that it is patently not true that we review/interview more men than women - if anything we skew the other way. Very annoying.
This is some amazing eye candy and yes, I want his book. (Even if I turn out to never be this artistic.)
Dave Truesdale really does not like the new Del Rey SFF collection (edited by Ellen Datlow). I have several issues with this review - namely why Truesdale assumes a collection with a few kid protagonists might be for teens and also his constant reminder that certain stories do not fit his idea of what SF or Fantasy should be, (as if that is the only qualifier), but when he drops the "child porn" bomb on a Margo Lanagan story I'm really blown away:
I really don't know where to begin in describing "The Goosle" by Margo Lanagan, except to say it is a retelling of the Hansel and Gretel story. Lanagan turns this traditionally gruesome fairy tale into one of child porn (depending on your point of view) and repeated homosexual rape of a child (Hansel).
With several other stories in this collection aimed at juveniles or teenagers (the Ballingrud and the Cadigan), I find this story highly inappropriate. Would you want your young child to be introduced to science fiction or fantasy thinking a story like this represents, as the cover of the book entices, SF's "finest voices"? One rape scene is fairly graphic, and at one point young Hansel thinks he might even like what is being done to him -- over and over.
Given that there are many versions of this grim fairy tale, and gore and violence abound in the original(s), there must be lines drawn somewhere, folks. Depicting child rape, with the author having the child think he might like to be buggered in his "poink hole" (as the story euphemistically calls it) is where I draw my own line. Editor Datlow has co-edited some six collections of retold fairy tales, with tremendous and deserved success. Has the idea well run so dry, and are authors so bereft of true originality in these retellings that they must resort to shock value of the most depraved sort?
Freedom of artistic expression does not trump good common sense, and at least a perceived modicum of morality (whether divinely inspired or by human agreement and consensus), or an innate sense of fundamental ethical awareness. We're talking homosexual child rape for shock value here. If not for its gratuitous shock value, then this reader would like to know what this adds to the fairy tale canon of Hansel and Gretel. Especially in light of the fact that Hansel doesn't make his raper pay for his perverted behavior, for it is the "witch" who eventually devours him, who sets right the moral balance.
Okay, I have not read this story but from comments over at Ellen Datlow's lj it is clear that Truesdale seems to be off base in his description (and Margo's intent) of the child rape. The thing about Margo's work is that she usually is pretty damn dark, whether writing for children or adults. Clearly this is not a collection aimed at kids (and Ellen points that out wondering why he thought it could be in the first place) so a child reading the story should not even be an issue, but please - have we forgotten how dark the fairy tales originally were? Terri Windling has been writing about this forever, but it seems one reviewer needs to go spend a month or so catching up on the subject at Endicott Studio. Again, I have not read "The Goosle" but "Hansel and Gretel" always struck me as a squirmy fairy tale even in the watered down versions.
The witch lures the kids with candy - what do you think the subtle undercurrent is and always has been here?
Anyway, even if the story is too dark for his taste, referring to it (on any level) as child porn seems way excessive to me. Fairy tales - as they were written - are about incest, rape, child murder and all manner of horrors. They were cautionary tales told largely to terrify and darkly amuse adults. Here's Terri Windling on "Snow White":
To most people today, the name Snow White evokes visions of dwarfs whistling as they work, and a wide–eyed, fluttery princess singing, "Some day my prince will come." (A friend of mine claims this song is responsible for the problems of a whole generation of American women.) Yet the Snow White theme is one of the darkest and strangest to be found in the fairy tale canon — a chilling tale of murderous rivalry, adolescent sexual ripening, poisoned gifts, blood on snow, witchcraft, and ritual cannibalism. . .in short, not a tale originally intended for children's tender ears.
Yeah, not a tale I'll be sharing with my six-year old any time soon.
I do plan to read this collection at some point and pay close attention to Margo Lanagan's contribution. I may not like what I read but I want to see how effective she is with reclaiming this tale and bringing it back to the true horror it has always been.
[Post pic: "Giraffes" from Peter Beard]
