Wiscon: Sunday
May. 25th, 2008 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimacA stomach flu bug has felled a number of attendees. Ugh.
Panel: "Philip Pullman vs. C.S. Lewis: Smackdown!" Fortunately the panelists did not take the title literally, and held a serious discussion largely focusing on what Pullman owes to Lewis thematically, and the degree to which he is likely to realize it. Unfortunately the panel was at 8:30 on Sunday morning, a time when many interested persons are likely to be at church. Janice Bogstad observed that Pullman's trilogy resembles Lewis's Space trilogy as much as it does Narnia. And, some including me added, in the trilogy's That Hideous Strength as well as in The Screwtape Letters one can find Lewis being as skeptical of organized religion as Pullman could want.
Panel: "Why Return a King (or Queen)?" Why do democrats set fantasy novels in monarchies anyway? (And are there novels about the return of the queen? Yes, several were named, starting with The Land of Oz.) Some writer-panelists shrugged at the underlying assumption and said, they write medieval fantasies, the default medieval political assumption is a kingship, so that's what they write. Fortunately the panel did not remain at this extremely demotic, beer-money level. Patriarchy, longing for good government, the US President as a Frazerian harvest king who has to be renewed every four years, the Marian cult of Princess Diana, all mentioned. Sarah Monette noted that stories explicitly about the return of a king usually concern an individual who's never yet been king himself. "He's fresh, he's right out of the box."
Panel: "The Fictional is Political" Supposed to be a comparison of SF that has an explicit political agenda with SF's that's about politics as a subject. Ran aground on political thrillers obviously only set in the near future to permit the introduction of fictional characters in the big cheese roles. Also on SF that has an implicit political agenda. Crim, is there any that doesn't? Concluded with a call for more Wiscon panels on politics. That would make some people very happy, but not others.
Talk: Ellen Kushner on her Riverside books. How she tried to write further stories with the same settings as Swordspoint without running the characters through repetitive sequels or undercutting the special qualities of the original. (I think she succeeded, and said so.) What Delia Sherman contributed as co-author to The Fall of the Kings: in particular the historical perspective and details of the university setting. How Ellen took lessons from a swordsman who was - she didn't know this at the time - legally blind. What authors (and TV shows) inspired her ideas of Riverside. Lots of goodies for Kushner fans.
Guest of Honor speeches: L. Timmel Duchamp told a harrowing story of institutionalized sexism that she encountered as a young music school composer in 1970, and then asked us to consider it as a story. To what audiences would it make sense; at what times and places would people understand what offended her, and why she failed to challenge it? Maureen McHugh told of her involvement in a new form of storytelling. Put a cryptic reference in a movie poster: people will Google it, find a website with reports from the movie's fictional world; enter your e-mail there and the characters will send you messages telling you where to find the case of Canadian Club, whoops wrong storytelling. It's non-linear and the user has to seek it out and understand it without context. McHugh admitted that this medium is still primitive, which is good because it reminded me of the old computer game Myst, in which the player enters an island and has to know to go to the library and read a bunch of old parchments before being allowed to address the question, Why should I bother?
Panel: "Philip Pullman vs. C.S. Lewis: Smackdown!" Fortunately the panelists did not take the title literally, and held a serious discussion largely focusing on what Pullman owes to Lewis thematically, and the degree to which he is likely to realize it. Unfortunately the panel was at 8:30 on Sunday morning, a time when many interested persons are likely to be at church. Janice Bogstad observed that Pullman's trilogy resembles Lewis's Space trilogy as much as it does Narnia. And, some including me added, in the trilogy's That Hideous Strength as well as in The Screwtape Letters one can find Lewis being as skeptical of organized religion as Pullman could want.
Panel: "Why Return a King (or Queen)?" Why do democrats set fantasy novels in monarchies anyway? (And are there novels about the return of the queen? Yes, several were named, starting with The Land of Oz.) Some writer-panelists shrugged at the underlying assumption and said, they write medieval fantasies, the default medieval political assumption is a kingship, so that's what they write. Fortunately the panel did not remain at this extremely demotic, beer-money level. Patriarchy, longing for good government, the US President as a Frazerian harvest king who has to be renewed every four years, the Marian cult of Princess Diana, all mentioned. Sarah Monette noted that stories explicitly about the return of a king usually concern an individual who's never yet been king himself. "He's fresh, he's right out of the box."
Panel: "The Fictional is Political" Supposed to be a comparison of SF that has an explicit political agenda with SF's that's about politics as a subject. Ran aground on political thrillers obviously only set in the near future to permit the introduction of fictional characters in the big cheese roles. Also on SF that has an implicit political agenda. Crim, is there any that doesn't? Concluded with a call for more Wiscon panels on politics. That would make some people very happy, but not others.
Talk: Ellen Kushner on her Riverside books. How she tried to write further stories with the same settings as Swordspoint without running the characters through repetitive sequels or undercutting the special qualities of the original. (I think she succeeded, and said so.) What Delia Sherman contributed as co-author to The Fall of the Kings: in particular the historical perspective and details of the university setting. How Ellen took lessons from a swordsman who was - she didn't know this at the time - legally blind. What authors (and TV shows) inspired her ideas of Riverside. Lots of goodies for Kushner fans.
Guest of Honor speeches: L. Timmel Duchamp told a harrowing story of institutionalized sexism that she encountered as a young music school composer in 1970, and then asked us to consider it as a story. To what audiences would it make sense; at what times and places would people understand what offended her, and why she failed to challenge it? Maureen McHugh told of her involvement in a new form of storytelling. Put a cryptic reference in a movie poster: people will Google it, find a website with reports from the movie's fictional world; enter your e-mail there and the characters will send you messages telling you where to find the case of Canadian Club, whoops wrong storytelling. It's non-linear and the user has to seek it out and understand it without context. McHugh admitted that this medium is still primitive, which is good because it reminded me of the old computer game Myst, in which the player enters an island and has to know to go to the library and read a bunch of old parchments before being allowed to address the question, Why should I bother?
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-26 03:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-26 05:27 pm (UTC)Great panels, great reviews.
Thanks!
Joyce
no subject
Date: 2008-05-28 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 08:44 pm (UTC)Next year in Madison!
Much thanks for the report.
Joyce
no subject
Date: 2008-05-26 06:05 pm (UTC)Does Timmi still compose? Could you tell her about my women composers' article in New Music Box? Should I just email her?
no subject
Date: 2008-05-27 01:01 am (UTC)I did say this was a harrowing story.
Oh, write her by all means. I thought about approaching her and saying, "I'm a classical music critic and I'd be interested in seeing your music," but I feel too embarrassed as a male by all the crap she had to go through to want to dredge up her past any further.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-27 01:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-27 06:36 am (UTC)She's very friendly, happily married to a man, and would not have held you responsible for what happened to her in university.
I looked for you all weekend, but (obviously) unsuccessfully. We shared one panel: "What Can't You Forgive?" Which, as someone pointed out near the end, was closer to "What Can't You Tolerate?" And Ann went to "Why Return a King," but I was in a different room in that time slot.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-28 05:55 pm (UTC)I didn't fear being held responsible; just that I didn't want to evoke unpleasant memories that she'd only brought up for a particular purpose.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 03:16 am (UTC)I'm trying to think of TV shows that influenced me, and am coming up blank. Did I really mention any? Or did my going on about "shows like Lionel Bart's _Oliver!_ and _Guys & Dolls_" just confuse everyone?
As I am perfectly capable of shooting off my mouth and then forgetting all about it, if you can remember, please cue me in..!
no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 04:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 04:23 am (UTC)Lovely to see you & B., as always. Glad you had a nice time.
I am currently at your uncle's house, and enjoying it hugely - especially as I know it's "family"!
no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 08:13 pm (UTC)As for the story of institutionalized sexism and music, without having heard the music how can one know the issues were sexism? It's like watching the recently concluded primary and seeing the choice as sexism or racism; often (usually?) it has nothing to do with 'isms' and has to do with content. Obviously I have no idea about the specifics here, but sometimes the critical voice can be (sexist/racist/pick your poison) and right at the same time. Granted, that makes it harder, messier, and it's always tempting to embrace the explanation that makes it 'not my fault' - and that's very human.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-05 01:09 am (UTC)