Salta al contenuto principale

Today, my day was brightened by discovering that there’s at least one Star Trek fanfic on AO3 written in Old English, and it’s extremely well-done with translator’s notes that are worth a read in themselves.
archiveofourown.org/works/4243…

so. wē spacemen in geārdagum - Chapter 1 - indigostohelit - Star Trek: The Original Series [Archive of Our Own]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
archiveofourown.org

Elena ``of Valhalla'' reshared this.

in reply to s0 Unbreaks Stuff

s0 Unbreaks Stuff
s0 Unbreaks Stuff
• •
I think it’s really interesting how the homoeroticism of the multitude of poetic fealty-language from the social structure at the time and the fashion for warrior-and-his-lord adventure stories, applies in a modern context extremely well to such fanfiction which strongly tends towards the gay romance heavy on themes of devotion.
It feels like a fascinating recontextualisation in direct opposition to the historical “oh there’s no sexuality here they just talk like that” interpretations.
in reply to s0 Unbreaks Stuff

L.J.'s mad sword-dance
L.J.'s mad sword-dance
• •

Yeah in a way I think it shows that these categories are fluid? I don't think those premodern Korean dudes who wrote love poetry to their kings were all male-attracted, but there is A Romance to their feelings and writings that is completely compatible with modern conceptions of romantic and sexual love. What is it but love when you spend a lifetime together, joined for a common goal, sharing your deepest secrets and vulnerabilities that your actual wedded spouses will never know?* When you would die for each other without a second thought?

* And that's another way these comradely relationships dovetail better with modern notions of romantic love/marriage, because misogyny meant that the women these old-timey dudes married and had sex with did NOT share these deep soul-shaking secrets and many men would have found the very idea ridiculous and even repulsive. Heck, plenty of dudes married to women have trouble with the idea today.

Unknown parent

L.J.'s mad sword-dance
L.J.'s mad sword-dance
• •
"Why do I feel so alive, so heavenly, when I catch a glimpse of my handsome liege? It must be my feelings of unconditional devotion! I must write about it, but as a woman in love with a man because something something Confucian values of the family structure reflecting the State."
in reply to L.J.'s mad sword-dance

s0 Unbreaks Stuff
s0 Unbreaks Stuff
• •
and the word ‘devotion’ feels really key here because there was little concept of sexuality and a huge social & religious framing around devotion in a way that’s pretty absent from most regular sexuality in a way! Like our independence as individuals is very important now and I think that change leaves a lot of area murky in what romance means. And kink/power exchange comes closest to a modern connection to some of that area
Unknown parent

L.J.'s mad sword-dance
L.J.'s mad sword-dance
• •
Yeah I've been told a fanfic I wrote about a liege-follower relationship has a kinky dynamic, and I can totally see what they're talking about. (It *could* be awkward to discuss because the "liege" here was 13 years old at the time, but no one has suggested even a shadow of impropriety in that sense. It's just... very emotionally intense.) I wonder if kink is one way people try to recapture that sense of enmeshment--how telling that this word automatically has unhealthy connotations in the modern sense--and oneness that we know on some level we've lost. Marriage is just about the only personal relationship where that level of reliance is openly acceptable anymore, and on a social level there's the worldwide rise of fascism that I see as a twisted and co-opted attempt to recapture a sense of belonging.
Unknown parent

Carl
Carl
• •
Sexual Orientation is a spectrum as well. @ljwrites @s0
@L.J.'s mad sword-dance @s0 Unbreaks Stuff
in reply to Carl

s0 Unbreaks Stuff
s0 Unbreaks Stuff
• •
that’s a weird thing to chime in with to a group of queer people who know each other and don’t know you, but sure, mate
Unknown parent

Felix
Felix
• •
Oh, we definitely need to reinvent family and relationships going forward/
in reply to s0 Unbreaks Stuff

Elena ``of Valhalla''
Elena ``of Valhalla''
•

@s0: :soldering_iron:

“if your primary reaction to a fanfiction in Old English is "why the sweet hell would you do this" a) you are right but”

why would one ever react like that? this is awesome!

@s0 Unbreaks Stuff
Unknown parent

@pettter@social.accum.se
@pettter@social.accum.se
• •

Thank you all for this thread, it's very interesting!

A good metaphor, to me, is that nets, social or otherwise, can work to hold up and cushion, and they can be used to trap and entangle. And that being two people caught in the same net can require forceful separation or conscious collaboration to untangle.

Questo sito utilizza cookie per riconosce gli utenti loggati e quelli che tornano a visitare. Proseguendo la navigazione su questo sito, accetti l'utilizzo di questi cookie.

⇧