This chapter begins with a description of Gratillonius having sex with Queens Tambilis and Forsquilis together. As often as I have reread The King of Ys, I have completely forgotten this passage which would have got the book banned at our school - if anyone had known that it was there, of course - and would have been the high point of the novel for one of my former work colleagues - although he would never have read that far in the first place.
The Gods of Ys finally and decisively move against Gratillonius by putting the Sign on his daughter, Dahut, knowing that she will want to consummate her marriage to him and that he will refuse. The embittered Dahut will become the instrument of the destruction of Ys. This is the turning point.
I know that the incest taboo is a social construct, not a divine law, but I am perfectly happy to be bound by it. We make our laws for our reasons and we have projected gods to amplify the laws back to us.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I am not entirely convinced THE KING OF YS would have been banned from your old school when you were, say, aged 15. The Andersons were not pornographic in their use of sex.
And I do believe incest to to be a moral evil.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
That book - if that passage in it were known about - would certainly have been banned. The text is not pornographic but is explicit.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Then I must be case hardened, I can think of far too many examples of real, no fooling pornography.
Ad astra! Sean
It's a logical consequence of polygamy.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
True, I should have thought of that. Another logical consequence of polygamy would be wives and concubines scheming and plotting to advance the interests of their sons, as was notoriously the case with the vicious harem intrigues of the Ottoman sultans.
Ad astra! Sean
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