'Ey up all, it's time for another Wyrd&Wonder read along and this time, it's Kushiel's Dart, a book dear to my heart for it's uniqueness. Great stories - in my opinion at least - are great because they do many different things at once. Kushiel's Dart is an intrigue, a romance, a slice of life as a courtesan in a magical fairyland, openly erotic yet full of mystery. There's almost nothing like it in mainstream fantasy for concept and few like it for quality; to me, I would compare Jacqueline Carey here to Guy Gavriel Kay for the ability to take character-led stories of growth and patiently turn them into emotionally powerful plots (the near-historical, low-magic worldbuilding and slightly old fashioned storytelling aids this comparison too).
What are your first impressions of Elua and his Companions, and of D’Angeline culture? Are you comfortable with the way in which Jacqueline Carey has reimagined the world?
The very first time I read it, I was too impressed by the mythology and what not to be particularly critical. This time is a wee bit different for reasons I'll mainly cover in the next question. But in general, I remain interested and impressed. It's Europe as fairytale; if some of the overly romanticised stereotypes pall a little (Pictish Britain! Bloodthirsty Germanics! Mysterious Romany!) it's only a little.
Phèdre's story begins in the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers. What are your thoughts on the Court, its adepts, the service of Naamah and the earning of marques? What House would you patronise - or belong to?
Let's do the easy part first; I paid special attention when Phèdre was describing the houses so I could answer the last question and now I'm here, I can barely remember a thing. There's too many of them! I'm reminded of the clan proliferation of White Wolf's Old World of Darkness (I'd put money on Carey having played Vampire the Masquerade) and wish the list was more boiled down. Besides, everyone else seems to have ducked the question of which group of courtesans intrigues them most, so I feel no shame about doing so myself! Strange how the attitude to sex is the most fantastical thing here.
Guy, Alcuin and Phèdre are all devoted to the mysterious Anafiel Delaunay. Do you think he deserves their love? For first time readers, what are your theories about his past - and what do you think he is trying to achieve?
"It is human nature, to give in hope of getting."
And I think that in this light, Delaunay has given more than enough to all of them to be worthy of their love. Has he got more from them than is fair? We will see.
It makes perfect sense - for all I have said of transactional love, Hyacinthe is the one who asks least of her - but I am amused at the slight attempt to rile Delaunay and his sense of appropriateness with it. And judging from his response she succeeds, if only a little. And the choice of his words leads me to...
...plus of course any other thoughts you'd like to share.
The nature of his response leads me to a little something that Imyril pointed out about illegitimacy and the use of whore as an insult.
"Why not? It's a good enough choice; no one need know you mean a Tsingani soothsayer's by-blow when you speak it."
The word whore is used as an insult four different times in this section; by the dowayne of Cereus House, by Hyacinthe, by society in general, and Childric d'Essoms. The servants of the Night Courts might be held in great respect, but they're also held in a little contempt too, and aren't above spreading it around. I'm reminded of some of the irregular verbs from Yes Minister - "I give confidential press briefs, you leak, he is charged under section 2b of the Official Secrets Act".
Well the Kushiel's Dart version of this Russel's conjugation (as I've just learned it is properly known) probably runs "I am a servant of Namaah, you are a high priced courtesan, he/she/it is a jumped-up whore". I think this is deliberate, another vein of darkness placed to remind everyone this fairytale world isn't as pretty on the inside as it is on the out. Which I think is right; people use the word love a lot when talking about this series, but I think a better word might be passion. This is a world where people don't hold back at all, for better or for worse.
I like your analysis of the use of the word whore in this section (and story overall). Carey does a great job of placing these little hints that Terre D'Ange isn't as cultured and glamorous as Phedre sees it with her young eyes. I also like that Phedre lets it roll off her because she has a good sense of her personal worth.
ReplyDeleteVery true - and the power of her sense of personal worth is noted when the first she's described (and bears it with her) is as a whore's unwanted get, but we're told very shortly afterwards that Elua *loves* her for it. We see the difference it makes.
DeleteI didn't intend to suggest in my post that I was commenting on Carey's views - but I can see where I misworded and it could come across that way (I might go back and tweak that). Above all else, this is Phèdre's narrative, and she was groomed almost from birth to see the Night Court and marques in a positive light. Sure it's an authorial choice, but I have some additional thoughts from week one about what I think Carey was doing here that I won't share until later because spoilers ;) Enough to say I don't think Carey is unaware of the power imbalances and potential for abuse here. I very much like your metaphor of the thorns amongst the roses - spot on.
ReplyDelete...I also admire your insight on the transactional nature of love as we've seen it so far. Love as thou wilt, but Phèdre has grown up in an environment where love is exchanged for cold hard cash and/or other benefits. Yes, in that light, Delaunay has more than bought their affection - he's saved them all, one way or another. I had forgotten and remain intrigued by how big a mystery Carey makes of his goals and motivations though, which is why I put this one out there - there's so many little suggestions seeded into the narrative that for all the hero worship of his household, he's feared rather than trusted in other circles.
I love Russel's conjugation too - thank you for sharing that! :D
Russel's conjugation is great! I only realised it had a name when googling one of the Yes Minister quotes.
DeleteAnd I may have been reading too much into what you said as the trend is very much for seeing everything as the author's intent these days :)
And I think the extent to which he is seen as feared in other circles only helps the hero worship!