Posted by Nick on July 20, 1999 at 01:56:06:
In Reply to: Re: Is the BBS black angels of penatance have descended posted by Dan Gunter on July 19, 1999 at 22:26:13:
: : Has the board been purged of wrong thinkers, or is it dead?
: I think it's me. My last post send everyone into a coma; or perhaps they all inflicted upon themselves the Spell of Forlorn Encystment.
: Maybe I could say something outrageous and wake Nick, Martin, Willem, and David Rose from their fretful slumbers. How about this: Gastel Etzwane's political changes to Shant in "The Brave Free Men" represent Vance's political thinking: a bicameral system with a president selected by the literally "patrician" upper house: something like the original Constitution. The first two Durdane books show the potential flaws in a weak federal system (like the U.S. system under the Articles of Confederation). Vance posits the federal government as a defender of individual rights against local systems that inflict various wrongs on women and the poor. The withe-cutting camps are perhaps analogues to the prison camps of the southern United
: States (Parchman Farm, the prison camps on the Brazos River, where cane was cut). This system--in which the central government defends individual rights--is potentially a reflection of U.S. conditions toward the end of the Warren/Burger Court era, when "The Anome" was initially published.
: Nick, start firing; but remember that Vance's thinking--colored though it may be by his knowledge of European and other world history--must nevertheless reflect his experience in the United States.
Interesting post Dan,
I'm going to go and read the books again and refresh my memory.
On Shant I think you may have a point in drawing an analogy between it and US history. I would suggest, btw, that Vance's own life is THE decisive influence on his writing.
Would it possible to argue that:
...the system Etzwane overthrows is moribund because the citizens have given over too much responsibility to the state(the Faceless Man)? The Torcs are a symbol of abject submission to a greater authority: free thought leading to the loss of you're head. I would propose that Shant represents a repressed, regimented society, which has lost its vigour. A picture Vance paints many times in his novels.
(Please, I am not trying to make a point about his politics, neither the mainstream left nor right favours repression and regimentation as far as I know.)
That is off the top of my head without studying the texts at all. As I say, I need to re-read the Durdane Trilogy.
I look forward to hearing more on this.
Nick