Different societies and social milieus conduct their affairs according to such widely differing moral standards and cultural norms that the members of one kind of society can be seen as literally depraved or deranged by those of another. This is reflected in fiction. Thus, ERB's John Carter and Dejah Thoris are so unquestioningly and unswervingly monogamous that a reader could be forgiven for inferring that all "good" human beings are naturally and effortlessly like that. (There are also, of course, "bad" human beings who, because of their badness, behave otherwise.)
By contrast, Conan and Valeria, take sex where they can find it or when they want it. So far - we have read nearly to the end of Part Two (of Four) -, they have not had it with each other. Also, Valeria is not an old-style heroine because she beats up a guy who molests her and later kills him when he tries to rape her.
Poul Anderson's David Falkayn switches without apparent effort from promiscuity to monogamy. We could list characters who fall somewhere between these extremes but will not do so this evening! We know who they are, anyway.
Blood Of The Serpent is a good read and the story moves in an interesting direction so I will continue to read it before turning in.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Falling behind, stuff to do. I've wondered if Stirling used the name "Valeria" because of the Valeria Matuchek we see in Anderson's OPERATION books.
I hope to soon get two of Stirling's books this week!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Valeria is a Howard character.
Paul.
Yes, Valeria is from Howard -- she's the other viewpoint character in RED NAILS.
BTW, I wish I could get rid of that picture of me that's in the photomontage. I've lost a lot of weight since then... 8-).
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: Got it, re "Valeria."
Virtues are hard to master, vices easy to succumb to.
Mr. Stirling: I can empathize with that! In Feb. of 2012 I began the slow and difficult task of de-blimping of about 70-80 pounds--and succeeded in keeping them off.
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