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Recent reading
Sep. 7th, 2020 05:54 pm( This review is technically a spoiler for my latest fic )
Hertha by Fredrika Bremer (1854; translated by Mary Howitt, 1856). This is an early feminist novel telling the story of Hertha Falk, a bright and determined woman living in a fictional Swedish town, who undergoes various personal misfortunes and struggles against both small- and large-scale manifestations of sexist oppression throughout her life. As a novel I didn't think it was particularly brilliant—much of the plot is improbable and a bit silly in its twistings and revelations, the pacing is odd and the narrative is frequently interrupted by long didactic speeches. But, having said that, there are some very good bits of imagery in there—Hertha's dream of being barred from the tree of life is a good one, as is the chapter where the people are all gathered in a field outside the town the night after their homes are destroyed by fire—and the cast of minor characters is great (I loved the cheerful and capable Mimmi Svanberg, and Ingeborg). Anyway—as a piece of history, however, this book is fascinating. The portrayal of just what women in the nineteenth century had to contend with is appropriately awful—Hertha's stern father, having had a change of heart after almost dying, promises her that he'll give her control over the property to which she can't legally gain access without his permission, and then simply never keeps his promise: a vivid illustration of a point that so many social-justice-oriented British novels of the period miss, that personal benevolence can't be relied upon to fix society-wide wrongs—and women's legal situation seems to have been—at least, Bremer argues that it was—even worse in Sweden than elsewhere. But this novel changed that! After its publication it began a national conversation on the Woman Question, which led to improvements in women's legal rights and the founding of the country's first women's higher education institution. All very fascinating stuff—I always enjoy learning about history by reading fiction from the period, and this was a particularly good one for that.
Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison (1952). I'd been wanting to check out Naomi Mitchison's books for a while—she wrote what seems like a ridiculous quantity and variety of books over a long career—and this was a good one to begin with! It's a modern fairytale, of sorts: it starts out as what seems like a fairly straightforward parody tale set in Fairytale Scandinavia—the main character Halla is an abandoned princess who is raised by dragons, who we see indignantly justifying their position in the conflict between dragons and heroes, and who meets various mythical creatures and people including unicorns and Valkyries. But later on Halla's story becomes more complex and more unusual, and the action moves across Europe to Constantinople and further into history, bringing in questions about society and religion, all while Halla struggles to find her place amongst it all. By the end it's become something else entirely. I really, really like this book! It took me a while to get to grips with what it was really trying to do, but by the last third or so I was just admiring the achievement. Mitchison's prose is absolutely gorgeous, a really strong and vivid storytelling style, and I was impressed with how well she balances maintaining a fairytale feel with discussion of subjects that might not come up in a typical fairytale. The nature descriptions are utterly lovely throughout, from the wild things in the Scandinavian forests of Halla's early life to the ship's voyage near the end. And I very much appreciated how the story handles (or doesn't, lol) its suggested het romance—a real breath of fresh air compared to how such stories typically go. In fact the entire ending is one of the best ones I've read anywhere in a while—some elements of it, especially the big twist, felt unexpected at the time but, as soon as I thought about them for a bit, absolutely appropriate. (And now I kind of want Halla/Steinvor femslash where the adventure continues... hmm, one to add to the Yuletide shortlist???)
Hertha by Fredrika Bremer (1854; translated by Mary Howitt, 1856). This is an early feminist novel telling the story of Hertha Falk, a bright and determined woman living in a fictional Swedish town, who undergoes various personal misfortunes and struggles against both small- and large-scale manifestations of sexist oppression throughout her life. As a novel I didn't think it was particularly brilliant—much of the plot is improbable and a bit silly in its twistings and revelations, the pacing is odd and the narrative is frequently interrupted by long didactic speeches. But, having said that, there are some very good bits of imagery in there—Hertha's dream of being barred from the tree of life is a good one, as is the chapter where the people are all gathered in a field outside the town the night after their homes are destroyed by fire—and the cast of minor characters is great (I loved the cheerful and capable Mimmi Svanberg, and Ingeborg). Anyway—as a piece of history, however, this book is fascinating. The portrayal of just what women in the nineteenth century had to contend with is appropriately awful—Hertha's stern father, having had a change of heart after almost dying, promises her that he'll give her control over the property to which she can't legally gain access without his permission, and then simply never keeps his promise: a vivid illustration of a point that so many social-justice-oriented British novels of the period miss, that personal benevolence can't be relied upon to fix society-wide wrongs—and women's legal situation seems to have been—at least, Bremer argues that it was—even worse in Sweden than elsewhere. But this novel changed that! After its publication it began a national conversation on the Woman Question, which led to improvements in women's legal rights and the founding of the country's first women's higher education institution. All very fascinating stuff—I always enjoy learning about history by reading fiction from the period, and this was a particularly good one for that.
Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison (1952). I'd been wanting to check out Naomi Mitchison's books for a while—she wrote what seems like a ridiculous quantity and variety of books over a long career—and this was a good one to begin with! It's a modern fairytale, of sorts: it starts out as what seems like a fairly straightforward parody tale set in Fairytale Scandinavia—the main character Halla is an abandoned princess who is raised by dragons, who we see indignantly justifying their position in the conflict between dragons and heroes, and who meets various mythical creatures and people including unicorns and Valkyries. But later on Halla's story becomes more complex and more unusual, and the action moves across Europe to Constantinople and further into history, bringing in questions about society and religion, all while Halla struggles to find her place amongst it all. By the end it's become something else entirely. I really, really like this book! It took me a while to get to grips with what it was really trying to do, but by the last third or so I was just admiring the achievement. Mitchison's prose is absolutely gorgeous, a really strong and vivid storytelling style, and I was impressed with how well she balances maintaining a fairytale feel with discussion of subjects that might not come up in a typical fairytale. The nature descriptions are utterly lovely throughout, from the wild things in the Scandinavian forests of Halla's early life to the ship's voyage near the end. And I very much appreciated how the story handles (or doesn't, lol) its suggested het romance—a real breath of fresh air compared to how such stories typically go. In fact the entire ending is one of the best ones I've read anywhere in a while—some elements of it, especially the big twist, felt unexpected at the time but, as soon as I thought about them for a bit, absolutely appropriate. (And now I kind of want Halla/Steinvor femslash where the adventure continues... hmm, one to add to the Yuletide shortlist???)
