I, too, would love to hear about your students' reactions. I found this to
be a deeply disturbing, thought-provoking novel (I'm not familiar with the
original folk tale). I agree it's more "psychologically sympathetic", and
all the more disturbing because of how McKinley handles the attack scene.
I felt caught up in the events and strangely distanced at the same time,
and I think it powerfully (and clearly) shows how psychologically damaging
such an event can be, much more so than other writing trying to graphically
describe a victim's reactions.
>On Tue, 15 Apr 1997, Nalo Hopkinson wrote:
>
>NH: I've read it. Have always found the folk tale on which it's based
>terrifying and fascinating. You're right; the book was ruthless and
>powerful. Be interesting to know your students' reactions.
>On Tue, 15 Apr 1997, Martha Bartter wrote:
>>
>> Robin McKinley does a really powerful number on the "really attractive"
>> attraction in _Deerskin_ which is our final novel in the fantasy class
>> this semester. We have some students in the class with a feminist
>> orientation (Women's Studies minor), and some with a very traditional
>> outlook on fantasy. They are dissecting the "beauty myth" rather
>> cogently from that book...
>>
>> Have any of you taught/read it? I find it very powerful (more so in a
>> way than Russ, because it's more psychologically sympathetic), but
>> absolutely ruthless. We're only just opening the conversation at this
>> point in class, but I expect things will get even more exciting soon.
-- Elizabeth L. Pandolfo/Briggs pandolfo@macbsd.com http://www.macbsd.com/~pandolfo/index.html"Whatever happens, believe that the journey is worth taking..." --Peth, "Seaward"
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