I think I worded this badly. It's not that the male characters aren't very fond of their girlfriends (well, I find it hard to buy that Randal is really into Gisella, but that's an issue in the construction of the book), but that the women are simply not present for a lot of things - there's no way Cottia would have gone to Caledonia with them - and I appreciate the fact that Sutcliff doesn't try to shoehorn them in.
It's kind of like The Godfather. Insofar as Michael loves anybody, he loves his wife Kay, but most of his life takes place away from her and he just assumes she'll always be there for him.
And I think the whole thing is reflective of Sutcliff's attitudes towards women as well as history, and possibly I'm more willing to forgive it than you are because I read so many books as a child which involved girls having not-really-historically-plausible adventures, which are fun on their own but vexing in the aggregate.
I do like the fact that Luned gets to see the white hart with Conn and Prosper in The Shining Company. She felt much better integrated into their trio than Sutcliff heroines often do.
I have not read Blood Feud or Mark of the Horse Lord, and the library doesn't have them. Maybe the local tiny used bookstore of bending bookshelves will do better?
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Date: 2012-07-19 02:45 pm (UTC)It's kind of like The Godfather. Insofar as Michael loves anybody, he loves his wife Kay, but most of his life takes place away from her and he just assumes she'll always be there for him.
And I think the whole thing is reflective of Sutcliff's attitudes towards women as well as history, and possibly I'm more willing to forgive it than you are because I read so many books as a child which involved girls having not-really-historically-plausible adventures, which are fun on their own but vexing in the aggregate.
I do like the fact that Luned gets to see the white hart with Conn and Prosper in The Shining Company. She felt much better integrated into their trio than Sutcliff heroines often do.
I have not read Blood Feud or Mark of the Horse Lord, and the library doesn't have them. Maybe the local tiny used bookstore of bending bookshelves will do better?