>Come now. I believe I was very fair. The United States at the time Herbert
>wrote Dune had had a long history of feminism of which he was probably
>aware. I'm not particularly upset that he did not infuse his work with
>feminism, but neither am I going to turn a blind eye on the grounds that he
>was kept ignorant by society. There were science fiction authors writing at
>the time who WERE conscious of gender issues. Samuel Delany's Babel-17 was
>published one year after Dune. The main character of that novel is a woman
>named Rydra Wong, a spaceship captain with an extraordinary gift for
>languages. A smart, strong, competent character -- even a role model.
>
>-- Janice
Janice,
What I'm saying is that it'd more fair to consider the author's
environment, his upbringing. Perhaps Herbert was less concerned with
gender issues than Delany. If I were a betting person, I'd lay money on
it. Delany writes about it a fair amount, Herbert hardly any that I've
seen. Also, Herbert was born 22 years before Delany, which puts him in an
entirely different generation, that being the Old School. My dad's from
that generation and being from then informs who he is now. He'll say
things that aren't offensive to him but are to me and my sisters. They
aren't offensive to him because they weren't offensive to people he grew up
around. The point is this: consider where the author's coming from and
you'll understand him more. Btw., in my opinion, comparing Delany and
Herbert is like comparing the clichéd apples and oranges. They're very
different people from very different backgrounds. I think parts of _Dune_
are sexist, but not considering where, as far as I know, the author was
coming from and I don't think he was anti-feminist (not that I'm trying to
put words in your mouth). I think the steps he took toward including women
in powerful roles are wonderful for the time.
-Sean
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:48 PDT