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Buddhist perplexity
Look guys. Mindfulness is all about living in the moment, in right now this very second and not the storied past or the wishful future; and Buddhism is all about detachment, about not grasping at that which is pleasant or fleeing that which is un. But how the hell am I to be mindful and Buddhist when people start talking about Basara the manga, and I am suddenly transported to 1994, buying volumes randomly in second hand bookstores whenever I can? (Flashback to the dim brown fluorescent-lit 2nd hand manga store that used to exist at the end of Finder Jean's street, smelling of mold and dust and oh my god 1994 was so long ago and far away nido to wa modorenai sekai.) Or transported to 1997 and the inevitable crushing betrayal of the narrative, after which I hardened my heart for good and never let a mangaka inside it again (but did not change my email handle.)
However I do *not* want to think Ageha is any version of Francis Lymond at all. Though he probably is.
However I do *not* want to think Ageha is any version of Francis Lymond at all. Though he probably is.
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Heh, this so much reminds me of one of my earliest LJ conversations, where I agreed with oyceter that there should be a manga version of the Lymond Chronicles.
If the section under discussion is Lymond's encounter with "the fat Turk" (as Lymond later describes him), then I have to say it did not seem to be rape - Lymond deliberately seduced the guy (but yes, protecting people was one of his several motives).
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That's the section I was thinking of, and it's true that it's not rape per se, but it is - well, technically consensual but at least portrayed in the book as being under, hmm, conditions of some necessity (if I'm remembering the implication right, they're all in his power, something dubiously consensual is going to happen if they want to get anywhere, and Lymond basically takes the initiative to sleep with him to get on his good side and so that he'll leave Jerott alone. I definitely remember Jerott getting all judgy about it until finally someone explains to him that it wasn't something Lymond wanted to do, it was to SAVE YOU YOU FOOL, etc.) In Basara it's basically the same situation, except much more spelled out from the beginning because it's not Dorothy Dunnett writing it and therefore we don't have to go through the obligatory several chapters of everybody misunderstanding Lymond's motives while he quotes things at them in Latin before the inevitable reveal that it was All For the Greater Good (And The Greater Lymond Angst).
- I mean, for my sins, I do love Dorothy Dunnett, but I'm just saying.
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(Also I have to say, Ageha definitely is Lymond-ish, but . . . well, like I said, I love Dunnett, but I will freely admit she spends most of those books gleefully wallowing in Lymond's manpain. Ageha has near-identical backstory angst down to the history of enslavement and sexual abuse, but Basara has no time to wallow in it, we're too busy watching Sarasa RIDE SHARKS. Which is a narrative balance I think is a lot more enjoyable on the whole!)
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I just finished reading this part in the series. As sources of Lymond's angst go, I'd actually classify this as minor. XD; It's unpleasant for him, but nothing he can't handle - he's kind of an adventuress. It's mostly important because it sets off the crisis of Jerott's latent feelings, and Jerott acts like a dumbass. I'm at the end of the book and he still has no idea why Lymond did it (to be fair, this was so obsfuscated in the book I suspect most readers have no idea why Lymond did it, at least on first read. There may be some people who on first read missed Lymond doing it altogether. XD;).
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So what's Lymond's, if not protecting Jerott? (Note again, have not read book.)
The analogous scene - yes there is one -
Doesn't Griffith do that regularly? I seem to remember very early on his acquiescence to some local lord with 'gotta keep the army fed.'
There may be some people who on first read missed Lymond doing it altogether.
This is why I have not read book. Well no, it's not. It's because I opened vol 1 randomly and found a passage of clodhopping exposition of what Francis did and why Francis did it and who Francis was intending to confuse *this* time, delivered by an admiring yokel speaking in thick dialect.
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IDK about regularly, but he does it. XD; And so does Lymond. To be honest, I don't actually feel like Dunnett's narrative makes a big deal about this; it seems to me it did him much less damage than readers sometimes assume.
At this specific point in time, Lymond's top priorities are, um, 1) rescuing his baby son from child prostitution and 2) killing the cackling villain who put him there. While travelling to do this, the group is caught in a compromising situation and Lymond bribes the Turkish commander, as he might have with money or goods, to accept their diplomatic credentials and let them return to their ship. When this doesn't work, he keeps doing it as leverage for escape. When that gets found out, Turkish commander threatens Jerott, who's Lymond's second-in-command officer in this book, with same treatment, and Lymond courtesan-tantrums him out of it, at some cost to himself (long explanation if you care (http://petronia.livejournal.com/704409.html?thread=5099673#t5099673)). This is told through a 2-minute scene in which Jerott is summoned and dismissed, and has no idea how to interpret the snippet he sees/hears in the interim. XD;
The third member of the party is Lymond's natural sister Marthe, who's basically his female identical twin. (They hate each other.) While Lymond is sleeping with the Man In Charge, Marthe is sleeping with the Woman In Charge, Guzel. Jerott is classically, facepalmingly in denial. He confesses his love to Marthe, who points out reasonably that it's Lymond Jerott actually wants (her actual words are "it seems we're running through all the cliches"). In the ensuing unpleasant scene, Jerott finds out Lymond's been sleeping around, and reacts predictably poorly. I don't think he ever clues in that it was Taking One For The Team and not General Debauchery.
It's High Popcorn-Munching Magnetic Trainwreck Soap Opera. XD; So yeah, aside from "Lymond does this, Jerott gets pissed off," it doesn't feel like the same situation to me. ...But actually, when I talked about emotional impetus, I meant - Ageha is/was in love with someone, yanno? Lymond's temperament is too cool for romantic love, something which through the books is increasingly seen as a defect. He cares for Jerott, but not so much that he can't squish the whole affair ruthlessly beneath his intellect.
because I opened vol 1 randomly and found a passage of clodhopping exposition
That doesn't really sound like Dunnett! The dialect, perhaps. Usually if there is that sort of explanation, it's a red herring. XD;; But the dialogue is exceedingly arch in book 1, in a way I'd imagine would irritate you. It improves as the series progresses.
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Jumping on to the bandwagon and firing off on a different tangent, from which point do you think Lymond realised which boy was his son?
Because of the final chest game in Pawn when Lymond had to make his choice...some readers think Lymond did not know for certain until K ran towards him and spoke to him in Gaelic right before ...so AFTER Lymond had already made his horrific choice, whereas others debate whether Lymond already knew before he chose
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I also think the whole thing was bullshit contrivance even though it was amazingly impactful and well-written, but that's another story. XD;
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Bullshit contrivance - I agree, what did it achieve really other than Lymond being completely emo for the next two books?! Was that worth the life a child Dunnet, was it?!