![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Damn pinlighters and their cats
Oct. 6th, 2012 07:09 pmAnother cat-themed vintage SF story. I think Captain Wow has the best name in the story.
After reading a little about Cordwainer Smith, I tried to find an online copy of 'Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons.' I haven't, but by googling that phrase I have warned Nostrilla's defenders of my interest in their planet.
ETA - but I did find The Dead Lady of Clown Town. Woah.
ETA2 - which I should note does contain a very dub-con relationship; I'm willing to accept that the Hunter is totally sincere in his belief that sex between himself and Elaine is both pre-ordained and necessary to the cause - what makes things problematic is that he's a telepath, so Elaine can't *help but* share his belief as soon as they meet.
I find myself more interested, though, in trying to figure out *why* it's necessary - Smith not being a writer who specializes in straightforward explanation. My thoughts so far: Smith was working off the template of Joan of Arc, so D'Joan has to be a virgin martyr; however, he didn't want said virginity to imply that sexuality is bad, so her transformation to full personhood requires her to receive a telepathic imprint off two blissfully post-coital humans; either so she can understand the apex of human experience (1), or because she's undergoing a rebirth and someone must take the role of parents and re-conceive her.
(1) I originally typed that as "the ape of human experience," which kind of fits with the theme.
After reading a little about Cordwainer Smith, I tried to find an online copy of 'Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons.' I haven't, but by googling that phrase I have warned Nostrilla's defenders of my interest in their planet.
ETA - but I did find The Dead Lady of Clown Town. Woah.
ETA2 - which I should note does contain a very dub-con relationship; I'm willing to accept that the Hunter is totally sincere in his belief that sex between himself and Elaine is both pre-ordained and necessary to the cause - what makes things problematic is that he's a telepath, so Elaine can't *help but* share his belief as soon as they meet.
I find myself more interested, though, in trying to figure out *why* it's necessary - Smith not being a writer who specializes in straightforward explanation. My thoughts so far: Smith was working off the template of Joan of Arc, so D'Joan has to be a virgin martyr; however, he didn't want said virginity to imply that sexuality is bad, so her transformation to full personhood requires her to receive a telepathic imprint off two blissfully post-coital humans; either so she can understand the apex of human experience (1), or because she's undergoing a rebirth and someone must take the role of parents and re-conceive her.
(1) I originally typed that as "the ape of human experience," which kind of fits with the theme.
