At 11:40 AM 7/7/97, Maryelizabeth Hart wrote:
>It didn't work for me. I think a) the matriarchial founders were just too
>manipulative, even more so than the founders of _Women's Country_, and b) I
>didn't think the concept of sexuality was dealt with realistically.
I agree about the problem of sexuality. What struck me was the total ab-
sence of any homosexual element (barring, I think, one skittish sentence
implying a predatory sort of chicken-hawk interest by a tough old bird in
a tender, younger one, if I remember correctly)
in a female-run society in which heterosexuality is only operative for a
short mating season. Add also the nearly total lack of actual child-
raising (although admittedly in an adventure story this isn't easy to do)
and the fact that just about every male in the book is a sweet,
good-hearted creature deeply involved in playing something called, I think,
"the Game of Life," which women didn't play and which supposedly embodies
"laws" of genetics which condemn the women's experiment. I also found it odd
that this supposedly female-run society is in fact organized around its
males and winning them as mates. On the whole, despite some lively ideas
and
adventures, I found the over-all result a sophisticated update of the
women-run-society-as-insect-hive model that some male authors used to present
as the "natural" form that any society ruled by women must take.
Most disturbing of all, the plot of the book involves the larger human
population ("the phylum"?), which has diffused among the stars, sending an
envoy to inform the women that, successful though their feminist experiment
has proven (for several thousands of years, in fact), the "phylum" has now
decided that it's time for this self-chosen female separatism and rulership
to end. The envoy's message is that ships from more traditional planets
are already on their way to bring normality back to this wayward planet,
and that this is a good and necessary thing against which, um, to coin a
phrase, "resistance is futile." So, I guess, the gals might as well lie
back and enjoy it . . .
I assume "the phylum" to be male run because of the traditional values it
intends to re-establish (for a "scientific" "higher good") even against the
will of the non-traditional women of the "feminist" planet; and because
surely no society with women fully represented in its decision making would
be so dim-witted as to send a single, male envoyto a female-dominated world,
at least not without some pretty fancy explanations of compelling reasons
for doing so. But maybe I missed something.
This novel is, to my mind, definitely *about* feminism, but just as definitely
not *feminist*. As such, of course it was included in the Tiptree nominations
for its year; Neil, you must have been looking at a list for a different
year; although it's surprising how often people think that this book was
over-
looked. It wasn't. It was considered and did not win. (see Tiptree
address supplied in Freddie Baer's message)
I recommend reading Nicola Griffin's AMMONITE right after GLORY SEASON.
The comparison is fascinating. If I were teaching a course on women and sf,
or a women's studies course with an sf component, I'd include both books to
be read and discussed together; or GS with my own MOTHERLINES, or with some
episodes of XENA (Brin's heroine is, after all, a warrior-adventurer). No
doubt other interesting matches could also be made, and could yield great
discussions in a classroom.
Suzy
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