~

[simonejester]

Re-reading Stranger in a Strange Land twelve years or so after the first time I read it also made me realize how much I've learned since then. I certainly notice the sexism a lot more now than I did then (though I did see it then, I was born in the age of power suits after all). And the heterosexism that I didn't notice last time either. (And a bit of victim-blaming. Possibly trigger warning worthy, but I don't have any trauma triggers so I couldn't say for sure. Also an instance of the n-word.) The first time around I had only vague notions of queerness and was only starting to get used to the idea that I myself am queer. It was certainly a ground-breaking work in the sixties (and it's a big deal even now--there's a reason Billy Joel put it in "We Didn't Start The Fire," it really is thought-provoking), but boy oh boy can you tell that the author was a straight white cis-man born in 1907.

Good thing I've also learned how to be a fan of problematic things since the first read too. Especially since I still enjoy the book overall and have already bought the sequels (most of which I also have either not read yet or haven't read in over a decade). It'll be interesting to read them now, and then to re-read them a decade from now, and/or two or more. I read in Reader's Digest Quotable Quotes back in middle school a quote about going back to a place that remains unchanged to see how you yourself have altered, but the places I go back to always change between visits. I think that quote would do better with favorite books from childhood and/or adolescence. An unabridged copy will remain unchanged. And each time you read them you'll notice something you'd not noticed before, and you'll go into the book with more knowledge and experience than you did the last time.

(O hai, I'm pushing thirty and waxing philosophical verbose.)