Posted by guillermo maynez
on 17/8/2011, 12:37:20, in reply to "Re: The History of the Siege of Lisbon"
189.178.249.48
Well, an angry feminist could look at it that way, but it would be very sad. I read it (perhaps I'm a hopeless romantic) as the act of a loving woman who is aware that her partner is not exactly an Alpha male, but is rather an intelligent, shy man in need of encouragement. How lovely it is when one's partner is supportive and cares for one's affairs and interests!
--Previous Message--
: Excellent questions. The last thing I expected was for
: Maria Sara to so readily return Raimundo's instant
: infatuation. When she did, I kept asking What does she
: see in him?. But Maria keeps acting as if he is the
: man of her dreams. Then I was expecting something to
: go wrong between them, but it never did.
:
: I suppose what we are to see in this is that Raimundo
: scripted his own love story just as he scripted his
: own version of history.
:
: It's interesting to note the gender roles in this
: novel. We are culturally conditioned to expect that
: the man will have an edge over the woman in at least
: one critical area: money, title, education,
: professional prestige, or force of personality.
: Raimundo is very aware that he has none of these.
: Maria reassures him, however, that once he has
: finished his History, he will be an author and thus
: outrank her professionally. Is this a sexist attitude
: on the author's part to have Maria's ego melt away
: like this?
:
: --Previous Message--
: What did you guys think of the love story? At first,
: of
: course, it looked like a posh babe like Maria Sara
: would never pay any attention to the older, shy, and
: possibly not attractive Raimundo (Saramago is not very
: explicit about his looks, but I was led to infere he
: was no Brad Pitt in his fifties). But afterwards, it
: was all too easy for him. He was corresponded
: immediately and without further ado. There were
: absolutely no convolutions, misgivings,
: misunderstandings, or initial rejections, nothing like
: a "true" love story, where conflict and
: delay are necessary. Think about Jane Austen's
: "Persuasion", or Seth's "A Suitable
: Boy", or any of tons of love stories we have read
: here in ReadLit. Do you think this "easy"
: love affair detracts from the story, or is it simply
: that life sometimes is like that? Did you like it?
:
: