(no subject)

( Look at this pretty thing! )

shellefly links to a speech on fantasy by Ursula LeGuin. I posted the following comment on shellefly's journal:

Le Guin has definite points to make about the racial makeup of fantasy literature, the constant use of a rewritten medieval England as a setting, etc. I am concerned, though, by the tone she uses -- it seems to come down to an argument about how her writing is morally superior to most fantasy. On some level, it probably is. And yet...

Le Guin is a good writer, a careful writer, much more precise in language and in plot than other fantasy authors I know and love (JK Rowling is obviously one of her major targets here), but somehow, I never found Le Guin's work seductive. There's another part to fantasy literature besides its political stance and its complexity of moral outlook, and that is its capacity to lead readers to wonder. Sometimes, in her focus on an anthropologically accurate world, Le Guin loses track of the sheer fun involved in writing and reading.

Meanwhile, terebinth has a hilarious post on the Ninth Circuit and Barbie, and half my friendsfriendslist is ranting about the utter stupidity of the recently announced title of Harry Potter 6.

I'm busily studying basic Hebrew; in a week and two days of classes, we have covered all but two of the grammatical features of Hebrew I'd learned in ten years of Hebrew school and five summers at Camp Ramah. This says something about the speed of my current class, but it also speaks to the way my previous Hebrew classes flowed at the same rate as glass at room temperature.