Damn pinlighters and their cats

[moon_custafer]

Another 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.

Comments

[donald hutton (from livejournal.com)]

He was quite a character. He was in the Army's Psychological Warfare divisions during the Korean War and it was he who came up with the handy catch phrase in Korean for any North Koreans wishing to surrender. In Korean it means something like "Yes to Honour and Life"
but phonetically comes out as "ie sur end dhur".

I have hardcopies of most of his stuff if you want to borrow them.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

I also recalled he was supposedly the patient in the case-study "The Jet-Propelled Couch," and read the main arguments for it. While I can see the parallels (smart, lonely kid, raised in another culture), "Kirk Allen's" fantasy life sounds more space-opera than Smith's stuff.