Mother Rachel and Leeman look at some of the religious themes present in the works of Lois McMaster Bujold and George RR Martin while Bilbo occasionally makes noise.
Topics Discussed and/or Spoiled
Game of Thrones, Vorkosigan Saga, Tuf Voyaging, Curse of Chalion, and Newsies
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1: Yes, yes G.K. Chesterton did. And yes, I will.
2: No one single model for Biblical womanhood? Protestant, eh?
3: Woo Bujold! In terms of religion in the Vorkosigans, it’s very subtle, but I think Shards of Honor is the most explicitly religious one. Cordelia is a theist, and describes herself as looking for “the grace of God” which she compares to “honor” for Aral. I read the rest of the series Barryaran honor/tradition ethos in the Miles books as a religious analogue- a system of symbols and ideals that defines your place in the universe, and guides you to right action, springing from the same transcendent source.
4: So Rachel, I remember recommending the Sharing Knife to you. How’d you like it?
A very pleasant visit with two great friends on a Saturday evening. Thanks
2: Of course, of course. I don’t know anything about the book except what you described, so I’m certainly not going to judge it. I just found that an amusingly non-Catholic thesis- if she was Catholic, she’d have written “Biblical models of womanhood. MARY!!!!!!!!……………and some others.” You make a good point, Mary isn’t just the model of women, but of all discipleship. Another nice thing about being Catholic is you have the saints as models of holiness, so you have a couple more lifestyle models. You have basic domesticity, but also a strong emphasis on celibate religious life-some argue that there was too much a denigration of domesticity for consecrated life. It’s only two options, but two is more than one. Actually, I know that JPII really tried to seek out lay, domestic, modern Saints for canonization to be models for the modern Church.
3: Oh my gosh yes! If not for Shards, Beta Colony would be this annoying progressive Mary Suetopia. Instead, we got an examination of its flaws, and the reasons Cordelia prefers (in some ways) Barryar.
4: I pretty much agree with that review. Also the “river boat adventures” one was…unnecessary.
I enjoyed that! But “No Day But Today” is from ‘Rent’, silly.
One reason George gets the “Catholic-ness” of the Seven is that he is, I believe the words he used in one of his books, a “lapsed Catholic”. It is a part of his childhood. He respects religion, and religious people, and in my interaction with him he was very respectful to me. (I worked on the graphic novels of The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword, and hopefully soon the third novella in the Dunk series.) Contrary to what you might expect from reading the way he treats his characters, he is one of the nicest people I’ve worked with — he always went to bat for me with publishers, when I was working on those books.
He wrote a very interesting short story called “The Way of Cross and Dragon” that, when I told him it was one of my favorite stories by him, he was very surprised because of the way it sort of acts as an indictment of religion. But the truth that comes out of the story is not so much the indictment of religion, but the indictment of some of the people of religion. George is an observer of people, and when writing he does not judge his characters. Like you said, it is about the individuals.
I’m curious how much your indictment of his treatment of women extends to Beauty and the Beast . . .
What is wrong with Aryn Sun?
I could never get into the Game of Thrones series – Martin takes too long to get to a point. I may explore the Bujold books.