My problem with Zipes, is that the fact that Harry Potter is a boy is the most half-assed justification for declaring that a work champions the patriarchal society that I have ever had the misfortune to read. I know that the media thrives on sound bites, but would it have killed him to give us something else to go on? It makes him sound like a complete idiot, and it makes literature people in general sound like they go around talking about works as bastions of patriarchal culture simply because of the gender of their main character. After all, if I went around describing certain works of literature as pieces of matriarchal, reverse-discrimination advocation, I would need a lot more rationale than just the fact that the protagonist is female.
I agree, you have to change more than just the gender of the characters to invert the work, but I'm still not sure about the conclusion. There are times when I also wonder if finding evidence of the patriarchal system (or any other literary construction) is like finding Bible Codes, you can find them in any work if you try hard enough. Maybe they're just part of the human condition, and are a universal theme, as such.
Sorry, my historian side is seeping through.
Swinburne sounds interesting, but like the kind of guy who I would spend more time arguing with than actually reading. Relying on Quantum indeterminism for anything is asking for bad luck, but each to their own. Still, I'll keep it in mind.
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Date: 2005-12-11 12:19 am (UTC)I agree, you have to change more than just the gender of the characters to invert the work, but I'm still not sure about the conclusion. There are times when I also wonder if finding evidence of the patriarchal system (or any other literary construction) is like finding Bible Codes, you can find them in any work if you try hard enough. Maybe they're just part of the human condition, and are a universal theme, as such.
Sorry, my historian side is seeping through.
Swinburne sounds interesting, but like the kind of guy who I would spend more time arguing with than actually reading. Relying on Quantum indeterminism for anything is asking for bad luck, but each to their own. Still, I'll keep it in mind.