more on ACOUP

[swan_tower]

I know I've recommended A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry here before, but I wanted to remind people of its existence, because it continues to be an excellent source of military history of the sort that looks at how military matters interface with culture and society, with a non-trivial overlap into specifically SF/F matters. Most recently that's shown up in a four-part series on the Dothraki (as depicted in both the books of A Song of Ice and Fire and the TV series Game of Thrones), looking at Martin's claim that he based them on the Mongols and the Plains Indians. Spoiler: whoa nelly is that not true. Devereaux isn't an expert in either of those regions, but he's done enough of his homework to show how they're not like each other, and furthermore how in most places the only connection they have to the Dothraki is through the worst of racist stereotypes. You may well have already noticed how offensive the depiction of the Dothraki is, in both the books and the show, but . . . folks, it's even worse than that. And it's a salutary lesson in how not to do things, because as Devereaux points out, those stereotypes are still used today to justifice the oppression of real-world ethnic groups.

And speaking of real-world relevance . . . back in October, he posted about the Greek concept of stasis (which means not "everything staying the same," as we use it now, but rather a recognizable cycle of instability). There are pretty clear parallels between the stasis ancient Greek democracies went through and what the U.S. is doing these days -- and, though Devereaux doesn't say it, I think it applies equally well to the Civil War. He followed that up more recently with a piece on insurrections, showing how strongly what happened at the Capitol on January 6th parallels history. The fact that so much of the invasion there looked stupid doesn't change the fact that it was a real insurrection; some historical ones looked equally stupid, but they still could have overthrown their governments if they'd succeeded.

It's good, chewy stuff. If you like history and looking at both the parallels and differences between cultures, you really ought to be reading that blog.

(originally posted at Swan Tower: https://is.gd/rWVh71)

Comments

[raven_cromwell]

OH, I'm so glad! you decided to do another rec for this, because I hadn't seen any of your previous ones and this looks like it's so immensely my jam. Am saving for an afternoon when I'm not devouring Mask, which is just. holy shit Marie this is like. id fantasy catnip and as wonderfully chewy as the history catnip is, I need to get back to ch 11--specifically Vargo! shirtless and dressed, I think, like a spider!!!!! (GOD I love! Vargo so damn much; Ren, too--apologies for the spelling; am listening on audio--and the slowburn chemistry is slaying me.

Tangent aside, this all looks so good--I'm especially fascinated by the one on stasis, since I had no idea of the mistranslation; the original form seems like a much more useful framework, and also just makes so much sense! as a Greek concept. The idea of stasis as a stillness rather than a cyclical journey always confused me, since so much of Greek myth is fascinated with catabasis in one form or another.

[swan_tower]

Woot for turning someone else on to that blog! When I first discovered it, I went through and read the entirety of his archives, that's how much I got into it. That would be harder to do now, but it's worth trawling through and taking a look at some of the other stuff he's written there.

And I'm so glad you're enjoying The Mask of Mirrors! Alyc and I really did pour large quantities of id into that thing (and hahah, I need to tell Alyc your reaction to Vargo's Night of Bells costume -- it took us forever to figure out the best way to achieve the desired effect).

[raven_cromwell]

*over here frantically fanning self* Effect definitely achieved! :d :-)) (And y'all should feel particularly proud because it's usually really hard for me to ship het things, but damn am I shipping them hard. So you did an exemplary job of character work.)

[swan_tower]

Heheheheh -- then we are even more honored!

[dhampyresa]

Thanks for the link to ACOUP! It is extremely my jam as the kids say these days

[swan_tower]

I figured there would be significant overlap between "readers of my blog" and "readers of my fiction," and non-trivial overlap between "readers of my fiction" and "readers who might find ACOUP interesting." :-)

[lokifan]

Seconded, even if it had to hang out in tabs for a while before I got to it!