A backhanded tribute

[Borillar]

Check this out:

www.boingboing.net/2008/10/21/true-nature-of-scien.html

[Blackhawk]

Funny Covers but the Comments piss me off alot of times.

I dont know why it pisses me off so much when i see people slamming the one person that I like most (when it comes to story telling) SRD.... Man, some of the people i want to give a Foamfollower sized bitchslap when they make a personal assault against SRDs writing because they cant stomach a rapist or someone who did something socially unacceptable. maybe the true haters actually had something bad happen to them or their loved ones.....considering how common rape is, I guess i cant be surprised at the 50% hatred of SRDs TC cronicles. he was pretty ballsy going that route i guess...imagine how much more popularity these books would have achieved had TC not Raped Lena... that one act that took less than a page ruined 4000 or so Great pages for so many.

I guess people cant mix their good with bad.(rape in this case)..when someone does Evil in a book most people cant wait to see that person/creature stomped or slashed eaten out of existence so i guess it digs in to them like a thorn in their side when that evil doer continues to live , breathe and try to right the things they have wronged.

seems alot of people would rather hug a Raver than forgive a Rapist leper messiah.

[AjK]

Good points. I wonder if most of their issue with SRD is not just that one of his characters was a rapist but that this was supposed to be the hero of the story or character you rooted for. For many people you can only take the "anti-hero" thing so far. What I really don't get is that instead of disliking the character (or at a minimum disliking his actions) they dislike the author. The rape scene and the scenes where he strikes Lena and Elenna are exceptionally revolting to me but I understand that it is all part of an absolutely wonderful story. If you want to view things in terms of good and bad then you have to ackowledge both in just about everything. But your point that the story might have struck a nerve in some people is a strong one.

[Menolly]

There is a work of biblical fiction by Anita Diamant called The Red Tent which features a similar chapter regarding the paganism of the matriarchs. For many readers, a similar reaction to that chapter happens, and they don't continue with the story. I think your point regarding the protagonist being the attacker is extremely valid, Andy...

[wayfriend]

Folks, there is a LOT of anti-Donaldson commentary out there. The fact is, he is not universally respected and admired. He is often loathed and ripped apart.

It's a matter of taste, and it's also, I think, a matter of tolerance. Many of SRD's poorer qualities don't affect me, or I can move beyond them easily to get to the part that's worth it. For others, it apparently grates too much to get past it, and they never get there.

I don't think there's any reason to get pissed off about it. If it worries you, it's probably worth looking into their reasons and trying to understand where they come from. I don't think they're all morons.

[kevinswatch]

They're all morons.-jay

[Rocksister]

I'm with Jay. By the way, it takes an IQ of greater than your shoe size to enjoy SRD. This guy wears size 2 shoes. Do the math. He probably likes Harry Potter and the Jonas Brothers.

[Turiya]

All this proves to me that Thomas Covenant (er, Donaldson) is right: the world is unfair and refuses to forgive. I don't think Donaldson's work has any "bad points," though admittedly there are things in there I don't fully understand/appreciate. Whatever. I always have loved Donaldson, and hopefully always will.

I agree with the other comments: the "tribute" was not nearly as bad as the negative comments. I've found (in my own lfe, among people who read) that people have very violently visceral reactions to Donaldson's writing: they either adore it or they hate it. This proves *at least* that the writing is powerful and compelling. You can't hate something unless you believe it first. I've also found that most of the people who hate it (Thomas Covenant and the Gap in particular) are patently "surface" people. You know, the happy, fluffy types who read to escape and not to feel or think.

As was said above, it's really all a matter of taste. *sigh*

[Turiya]

Just read this on the GI. . .

My stories would have no power to engage people unless those stories also had the power to alienate people.

That about sums it up, yeah?

[Cameraman Jenn]

I just saw that blog this morning because it was sent to me by a friend. I think the cover is funny and we basically called TC worse during Fantasy Bedtime Hour. Even Donaldson called TC a whiny little bitch in episode 40's expert interview. Everyone has opinions of their own and if everyone thought the same way and liked all the same things then the world and this forum especially would be very boring indeed.

[wayfriend]

Everyone has opinions of their own and if everyone thought the same way and liked all the same things then the world and this forum especially would be very boring indeed.

Quick ... we need someone to NOT like Cameraman Jenn in order to save the world! Who? I ask. Who?

[AjK]

That about sums it up, yeah?

[Cameraman Jenn]

Wayfriend, you could try to get Emotional Leper back....

[deer of the dawn]

I laughed at the cover. As for the comments, blah, blah, blah.

[danlo]

Those people are blithering idiots.

[ninjaboy]

It's more than irritating though.. Simply because SD's work, especially the Chronichles of TC is something that I just love, and have loved for such a huge period of my life that when people say they hate it or hate him it's something that I have trouble comprehending.

Then again, I've always had trubly comprehending the stupidity of humanity.

And for the record, a friend of mine who actually has been raped is almost as big a fan of the series as I am.

But it does make me feel better to know that SD anticipated and accepts that some of his work alienates people.

[Ur Dead]

I really noticed the comments and couldn't help that most of them never got beyond Dr. Suess.