Queering Shakespeare: reflections on damaging tropes, and some positive alternatives September 9, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : links, news , 15commentsThis is a hard post to write. I’m pretty sure I’m going to get it wrong, and I’m sorry about that. I want to say going in that I speak for me, not for others, and that every opinion quoted and linked here is the expressed opinion of an individual. The Outer Alliance is not one person. We’re a widely varied group of people with a large range of opinions. We band together with a set of common goals (to support each other and promote speculative fiction with LGBTQI content), but we don’t always agree on how to handle every situation.
We have yet another controversy rocking the queer specfic community this week. It’s one I have reservations talking about, but I know it’s deeply important to a lot of our membership that the OA addresses it, and I do understand and support that sentiment, so here I am.
Three years ago, Tor published a collection of novellas, which included one by Orson Scott Card. He retold Hamlet. I didn’t hear about it at the time. By then I’d already stopped buying books by Card, or submitting work to his publication, because I knew that our fundamental values were at odds. He’s publicly said many times things that indicate that he doesn’t support LGBTQI rights, and believes a lot of things I find offensive and damaging. Now, my personal response to that has been to ignore him. He has the right to say what he wishes, because we both live in a time and place where freedom of speech is a protected right. I have the right to speak out against him if I choose, but to date I’ve always felt that exercising that right would give his damaging viewpoint more attention, and I didn’t really want to do that.
People talk about honest reviews being good, and I agree. People have said that negative reviews can help boost sales, and I agree with that, too. I’ve bought books before because I read a review that made me sure I’d like them even though the reviewer didn’t. More than anything, reviews give books attention. I wouldn’t have known about this book if it hadn’t been for a review. I’m guessing a lot of other people wouldn’t have either. I worry that the fervor over it will lead to results other than what the protesters would hope. I know that I’m potentially fueling that unwanted attention by adding my voice to the conversation, and that unsettles me.
I’ve said before that it’s important not to attack people personally. I don’t wish to do that, and I won’t be doing that today. I’ve also said that it’s important to speak out against injustice, and important to educate people when we can. It is my hope that I will accomplish these things, and also that this post will serve as a part of an extended open dialogue with the specfic community at large.
Now, the review in question was in response to a reprint of Card’s Hamlet retelling, not the original Tor collection. The standalone novella came out this Spring from Subterranean Press. I was especially dismayed to hear that news, and to hear, in the first cries of outrage, people calling for a boycott of Subterranean. That particular press has often published great books and stories with queer content, and by queer authors. I’ve bought some of them, and always felt good about supporting an open-minded small press with really nice production values. Seriously, if you’ve ever bought a book from them, you’ll know that they use highest quality materials. Their art is usually great, and every time I receive one of their books, I feel a sense of tactile joy, because they understand about texture at Subterranean. Their books are a pleasure to hold.
When this all erupted in a flurry of passionate e-mails on the OA google group, I said that if I boycotted every publisher who ever put out something I found offensive, I’d severely limit my reading choices. Others asked why people hadn’t called for a boycott of Tor. Still others pointed out that this was a troubling reprint because it was specifically chosen by a small press, and we ought to demand to know Bill Schafer’s reasoning. Along with boycotting, demands for various other concessions floated about, but none seemed to unite everyone in agreement.
Then someone pointed out that it was in fact possible that Bill Schafer and others hadn’t realized how and why this story was offensive. People who have the privilege of not being targeted by these damaging tropes are often unaware of them. Indeed, Bill Schafer’s response to the whole thing indicates that this might have been the case for him. He asks for people to share their thoughts, and says that he’s listening. If all of this results in a publisher learning a little more about how and why works he publishes might actively hurt people, then I suppose it’s worth the risk of giving attention to an author I’d rather ignore. Here is a collection of accounts by OA members of their experiences with this particular controversy, followed by some recommendations of queer-positive Shakespeare stories.
Rose Fox summed up the whole sordid saga in a concise and comprehensive manner over on the Genreville blog.
[T]his is the thing about offensiveness grenades: they may look entirely inert for so long that you forget they’re dangerous, but sooner or later, they explode.
On the google group, Rose added the following:
I am really sad and disappointed that Subterranean Press and Tor Books, which publish many books by queer and trans authors and with queer themes, also published a novella that vilifies queer people and equates us with child molesters. I call on those publishers–and on all SF/F publishers, imprints, and magazines both large and small–to refrain from publishing books and stories that vilify any group of people in such a fashion.
Cheryl Morgan said much the same thing to me, and explained why this particular reprint is so upsetting:
There is, I think, a difference between publishing the story as part of a retrospective of Card’s work, which can put it in context, and publishing it has a high-priced collectors’ edition, which suggests it is something special and of extra value.
Elizabeth Schechter posted about her personal reaction on her blog:
To be honest, right now, I’m more at the stage of sputter…sputter… whiskey tango FOXTROT???
And my reaction isn’t because Card wrote this. Anyone who is following along and playing Homophobic Bingo: the Home Game just maxed out their score. This is no surprise.
The surprise is that Subterranean Press published it.
River Willow Fagan posted an extremely brave and heartfelt open letter to Bill Schafer, explaining how and why this kind of thing damages people:
One of the most painful aspects of being a queer survivor has been the doubts: what if all those hateful voices were right? What if I am attracted to men because my father abused me? What if I really am sick, what if my soul really is twisted and broken like all those conservative Christians say?
Sunny Moraine called for people to demand better stories, and posited that small-mindedness leads to bad writing:
I think that it’s important to recognize that art can be really offensive and still have a huge amount of value. But I also think that believing stupid, hateful things – more often than not – makes you a bad artist. As it cripples and stunts your mind and heart and spirit, it cripples and stunts the things that your mind and heart and spirit produce.
Brandon Bell, talking of the demands for more good queer stories, noted:
I’m certainly happy to see queer-themed Shakespearean works at Fantastique Unfettered.
Angela Korra’ti expressed a hope that people would not buy the book now that it has received more attention, and offfered a few alternatives for people who want good queer retellings of old stories:
So to all of you who never knew about this work, I’m a bit sorry to have brought it to your attention, and can only hope you will continue to not only not buy it, but will specifically not buy it because bigotry is not okay. To those of you who already knew about it and elected not to buy it on that basis, I thank you.
To counter its existence, I’d like to commend to your attention the Lethe Press anthology Time Well Bent, in which Catherine Lundoff has a story in which Shakespeare isn’t queer, but his sister Judith is–and so is his friend Kit Marlowe. Hayden Thorne has Arabesque, a dark m/m adaptation of Snow White. And I’ve mentioned this one already, but it’s worth mentioning again in a post whose theme is “adaptations of classic stories”: i.e., Ash by Malinda Lo.
Several people recommended Elizabeth Bear’s Spectrum Award winning Stratford Man duology. Warren Rochelle, one of the judges for the award, shared his thoughts about the books alongside some quotes from the official Spectrum Award writeup:
Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth, the two volumes in Elizabeth Bear’s duology, “were far and away the work most deserving of our award for the year.” I was quite taken by this universe in which Shakespeare and his rival and teacher and sometime lover, Marlowe, move back and forth between the worlds of Elizabethan England and Faerie and even Hell, a universe in which “the worlds of a great writer can shape the world as a form of magic … {Y]ou’ll find yourself believing that this magic of words is more than a fantasy story.” All three worlds are masterfully done and I was more than willing to suspend disbelief. I was caught up in the ongoing crises, crises “that only a handful of individuals, including Shakespeare, can overcome . . . Both Shakespeare and Marlowe . . . must face their own demons, their own mortality, and their own desires if they are find immortality for their own work, and the two kingdoms they come to love.”
And, finally, Hal Duncan offered his own playfully modernized screenplay retelling of As You Like it, free of charge. You can read his explanation of how it came to be, and the first scene in this blog entry, and you can download the whole thing at this site.
That wraps things up for this harrowing monster of a blog post. As I said earlier, I hope that it will be a part of an extended open dialogue. I’d love to hear more from anyone who wants to share their thoughts about this, and I’m especially interested in ideas about how we can use this situation to make our community better and stronger. Please leave a comment here, talk to us on the google group, or email me directly at julia@juliarios.com.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #28: Spring Break! April 2, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : links , add a commentWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #28. Normally, the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. This Friday, however, marks the first of a two week break from the norm. Spring is here, and your faithful correspondent is overwhelmed with travel plans, so instead of interviews, you’ll get some links to April appropriate content elsewhere on the web.
First, Outer Alliance member Angela Korra’ti is leading a Drollerie Press Blog Tour for the month of April, all about fools and tricksters. One of the other contributors is Angelia Sparrow, too, so it’s awash in OA goodness.
Second, April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Sexual assault affects people of all orientations, and it’s all too common. If you’re interested in learning more, or helping educate others about this, check out some of the resources at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s SAAM site.
Third, to help spread awareness and raise funds for rape crisis centers, Jim C. Hines is giving away a signed advance reader copy of his book, Red Hood’s Revenge. Jim is asking for people to donate to RAINN, or a local rape crisis center, but donations are not required in order to enter his drawing.
Support rape crisis centers and enter to win an Advance Copy of Red Hood’s Revenge, by Jim C. Hines.
That’s all for this week! The Spotlight will return next Friday with more Springtastic links, and then we’ll go back to our usual interview schedule.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #12: Angela Korra’ti December 4, 2009
Posted by juliarios in : interviews , 2commentsWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #12. Each Friday the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guest this week is Angela Korra’ti, author of the urban fantasy novel, Faerie Blood.
Angela’s first urban fantasy novel, Faerie Blood was released in May of 2009 through Drollerie Press, and she is currently at work on the sequel, Bone Walker. Another story set in the same world (but in a different time period) came out in November, 2009 as part of the Civil War fantasy anthology, Defiance.
As a bisexual writer, Angela feels that promoting queer speculative fiction as part of a larger group is a powerful and necessary thing. While she believes that queer SF/F is gaining more mainstream acceptance, she knows that there’s still a long road ahead. She hopes that her contributions will help foster acceptance in and out of the genre by demonstrating that LGBTQI people are indeed people.
Angela lives with her partner in Kenmore, Washington, and works in downtown Seattle as a web page tester for Big Fish Games. She plays several instruments including the flute, piccolo, guitar, mandolin, and bouzouki, and she is particularly interested in Atlantic Canadian Folk music. In addition to blogging and holding drawings for free things on her official site, she is on Twitter as annathepiper, and she keeps a personal journal at annathepiper.org. (more…)