Debates and reviews

A while ago, melymbrosia posted on feeling betrayed by the Christian not-so-sub text of the Narnia novels by C.S. Lewis, which led to interesting discussions in various ljs. Here, elynross writes about feeling similarily betrayed by Philipp Pullman in the His Dark Material trilogy. Personally, I don't feel betrayed by either, but I agree with both ladies that Pullman is as doctrinaire as Lewis ever was, just for the opposite pov. These two are soulmates, clearly. See, that's why I like J.K. Rowling. As a writer, she isn't nearly as skilled or sublime than either Lewis or Pullman, but she doesn't use her characters and her universe to stuff messages about religion (either pro or anti) in her readers' throats. Meanwhile, the stage production of His Dark Materials is reviewed here; I was amused by the reviewer's comment that Pullman might be inadvertendly doing for God and organized religion what Milton did for Satan.

Another article that struck me was this review about a new biography of Catherine de' Medici, a lady who usually gets bad press and worse movie representations. Personally, I always found her more interesting than either her husband's mistress, Diane de Poitiers, or her daughter-in-law, Mary Queen of Scots, two ladies who underestimated her at their peril but got plenty of poets swooning over them. What's objectionable about Catherine isn't her influence over her sons but that she didn't overrule them altogether, for these three were a disaster for France.

From the past to the future: My last Deep Space Nine reviews.

And isn't it good to discover:


You are Emma Goldman! You are
the mama of
Anarchist/Communist feminism and you inspired
millions
to embrace the labor movement. Without
ever directly saying so, you
directed efforts
toward saving wymyn and children
from
exploitation. Oh yeah, you were also a total
sexpot!



Which Western feminist icon are you?

brought to you by Quizilla