Since I started a new project, my new content in blog posts will probably decrease. However, one topic I realize I have not written about in depth here is my experience with Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. I have a different relationship to his story than many people in that I read the entire series and saw maybe one full episode of the TV series, at best.
Where to begin? Why I selected these books to read. My background, as I describe it, with literature was reading a typic "gentleman's library" because that seemed the best way, in my mind, to be prepared to understand the framework of our culture and society. Recently in my chat with Charles Wachter, he mentioned having the degree in English, and I was just telling him what I enjoyed about the approach I took of independent study, rather than courses with professors putting time limites and limitations on your reading selection, was that I didn't just read one highlighted book from an era, but I got to see what influences were present in contemporary groups of authors, and how the ideas they were debating appeared in different ways in their writing. Then, also, how that conversation was interacting with the artistic community - in the case of the Hudson River School for example, that was interlacing with American authors of the era.
To summarize, I saw the ideas that were shaping those eras of thought, and how they describe and perhaps prescribed the cultural impact. What do I mean? For example - if you look at the early instructional novels of Goldsmith and Burney and Richardson - they were all warnings to women to avoid sexual desire, becuse in that era society would punish them, not the men, for ellicit affairs that fell outside a very structured societal marriage structure. Were they writing about or perpetuating those cultural norms? The same audience of women who were supposed to devour these words of fiction were not allowed to read Tom Jones.
Viewing cultural history through this lense helps understand the same personalities and dynamics today. And helps identify, or prioritize my focus on ideas shaping us in the present. "Zeitgeist." After ten years ago, it became apparent that Martin's series fell into that category, and important for me to read. Reading always gets at the author's true intention and mind, more than watching a theatrical portrayal. That is why I purchased the whole set (I think perhaps before book five was released) and commit to reading them, whether I enjoyed them or not.
What I thought about them is a multilayered topic. In that phase of my life, I was recovering from a series of compound toxic relationships, including my family, as well as "financial ruin" - aforementioned authors might have called me "ruined" in all ways but one. Something that might be difficult to return from, if you continued putting more stake in what others thought of you than what you thought of yourself. I digress. However, because of that state in my life, the character of Daenerys provided me specific motivation, being able to identify with being betrayed by everyone in one's life, and looking around skeptical that people appearing to be your friend were actually supporting your goals rather than their own. Though cynical, it enabled me to start giving less fucks and stop diminishing my talents to make other people comfortable.
Today what I think about the influence of the books and series is that it has certainly colored the cynicism the general population views rulers, particularly women rulers. I wonder what the 2016 election would have been like without the population being inundated with a heavy dose of Cersi Lannister for almost a decade. However, as I said, I was never following her on screen performance, and I am writing a book to do the opposite.
While reading the books, I thought they were mostly horrible. The first book was manageable, despite the slaughter of the Stark clan, which you are supposed to view as the 'good guys' but incredibly naive and lacking any saavy or strategical tactics. It was not until the middle three books that it was particularly terrible. I had days where I had to put the books down after reading five pages. Despite, that I managed to find themes which I personally found intriguing. The plot of Bran is taken from Irish folklore - at least my mind was blown when the Book of Kells was released concurrently with these books, and Brandon goes down to obtain the "eye" from the god in the cave. Others have seen inspiration drawn from different mythology. From my point of view, his attempts at comparative religion was interesting, at least the discussions people had about the religions while riding across the country on horseback, not unlike the Canterbury Tales. He had some interesting observations about his pseudo Cathloic religion which was also combined with the Norse gods. Those are topics I have willingly discussed with anyone nerdy enough to follow, but I have also found these topics went over the heads of many people.
That summarizes my experience with Martin's world of Westeros. It is obvious very personal to myself. These experiences were in my mind in creating my own world of Soleria, but to examine how my world and characters answer some of Martin's errors, flaws, particularly in how he wrote the women characters in his books, and how I actually designed a religion with a full in depth theology and belief system rather than just superficial worship rituals (though there are worship rituals as well, including wedding, funeral, AND military promotion ceremonies), that is what you have to look forward to with my debut novel, I guess.
Happy Reading!
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