PF as YA

Fernando Q. Gouvêa · 20 Apr 2009, 15:29 · from 2009-April.txt.gz

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From: fqgouvea at colby.edu (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=22Fernando_Q=2E_Gouv=EAa=22?=)
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:29:48 -0400
Subject: (urth) PF as YA
In-Reply-To: <49EC8739.2020105 at goosemoon.org>
References: <37bfbeb60904151450l562f1efap639973f799cb6aaa at mail.gmail.com>	<49E7735A.50009 at colby.edu>	<49E8C201.90806 at mindspring.com>	<49E8C5A3.3020002 at colby.edu>	<49EC0D09.6060701 at mindspring.com>
	<49EC8739.2020105 at goosemoon.org>
Message-ID: <49EC94EC.2050200 at colby.edu>

I don't quite remember the rules, but isn't there some special provision 
for men who were married before becoming priests?

Fernando

Allan Anderson wrote:
> Henry Eissler wrote:
>> Fernando Q. Gouv?a wrote:
>>
>>> See my other comment about "YA". I'm not sure what that means any 
>>> more. But I still think the themes in PF are appropriate for young 
>>> adults, and especially young men. This seems to be a concern of 
>>> Wolfe's. Our society seems no longer interested in "manliness", but 
>>> Wolfe is.
>>>
>>    I think I would have worded that differently, but that in the end 
>> we'd be talking about the same thing.  I agree.  I hadn't thought the 
>> novel was intended for a younger audience, but it could have been.  I 
>> think the spectre of "Treasure Island" helps that impression.
> I should ask my sister the youth librarian what she thinks. She's 
> pretty much of the, "hey, if it gets them to read, it's okay" school 
> when it comes to sex and swashbuckling in novels. But would it draw in 
> and reward a Young Adult audience, that slippery category?
>>  
>>> That is my reading as well, though I think that we're also expected 
>>> to see that some of Chris's choices are pretty bad choices. The 
>>> business at the end about the vow of celibacy is a particularly 
>>> discomforting one.
>>    I realize now that I was somewhat stating the obvious.
>>    I didn't get the part about Chris making bad choices.  His plan to 
>> break the vow of celibacy, for instance- didn't disturb me.  At that 
>> point Chris was long past having decided that his own relationship 
>> with God was unique.  Perhaps the danger of that is part of what the 
>> book tries to explore.  But also, the woman in question was his 
>> wife.  Why he made such a vow in the first place, I don't know; but 
>> the idea of breaking it bothered him enough to mention it in his 
>> "confession".
>>
> You make some very good points! Hey, do you think he took his vow 
> partially because he thought, "there can be no other woman for me but 
> Novia"? IIRC, he doesn't figure out that he can possibly go back until 
> after doing so; I'm not 100% on this chronology, though.
>
> It's still creepy. Hey, you know that old monk guy who's living with 
> you? Well, he's really the same person as your dashing teenage pirate 
> husband! On the up side, you have someone to help take care of the 
> baby (possibly with a lot of loot). On the down side, you've traded in 
> your handsome young man for someone much older (something you ran away 
> from, if I recall). Plus, there's this priest who keeps checking out 
> your ass.
>
> At what point does Chris wearing the cassock become seriously deceitful?
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-- 
=============================================================
Fernando Q. Gouvea             
Carter Professor of Mathematics   
Colby College                     Editor, MAA FOCUS
5836 Mayflower Hill               Editor, MAA Reviews
Waterville, ME 04901              http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/19/
http://www.colby.edu/~fqgouvea

It is necessary for the welfare of society that genius should be privileged to utter sedition, to blaspheme, to outrage good taste, to corrupt the youthful mind, and generally to scandalize one's uncles. 
  -- George Bernard Shaw

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