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I spent a day and a night with Lavinia. Although Le Guin no doubt spent years studying Latin and absorbing the beauty of Virgil's poetry, and even though Le Guin found the tiniest hint of humanity within a half dozen lines of poetry about some "maid ripe for marriage" or whatever, I respect this book but I don't love it. (Note for clueless people like me: Lav is Aeneas' third wife, and yeah I'm counting Dido as a wife, even though Aeneas was like, "uh, I don't really count her as a wife. I know she was really into me and all, and she set herself on fire, but that was not my fault." Dude, lame excuse. I apologize for my lack of reverence here, but come on!)
ANYWAY, I appreciate one aspect of Lavinia's voice--Le Guin developed Lavinia's voice to be smart, dry and cynical. As a girl, Lavinia spends a few nights in the wilderness with the ghost of Virgil, and he tells her fate to her. She says she doesn't like any of her suitors. He asks her if she would "favor a man" who fought wars, rescued his family from a burning city, traveled to Hades and back, etc. etc. etc. Lavinia dryly answers, "I would certainly pay attention to him." And lo and behold, she spends 3 years married to Aeneas. And then she goes back to live in the wilderness after he is killed in some kind of farming scuffle.
Unfortunately, I had stopped paying attention near the end of the book. The book is not written chronologically. Readers catch vignettes of Aeneas' and Lavinia's marriage throughout, so there is no momentum really, except for the poetry that Le Guin attempts to invoke.
I can understand how this old Old OLD poetry is gorgeous and heartbreaking, but it seems like no one had a sense of humor back then. Everything is weighted down with reverence and ceremony and gods' hands on the strings of fate. Meanwhile I'm thinking, "It's great that the skimming of milk will nourish the mouths of kings, but how am I ever supposed to get excited about typing numbers into a spreadsheet here? Modern life is empty drudgery!" The weightiness of this book has brought me a very grim Monday.
ANYWAY, I appreciate one aspect of Lavinia's voice--Le Guin developed Lavinia's voice to be smart, dry and cynical. As a girl, Lavinia spends a few nights in the wilderness with the ghost of Virgil, and he tells her fate to her. She says she doesn't like any of her suitors. He asks her if she would "favor a man" who fought wars, rescued his family from a burning city, traveled to Hades and back, etc. etc. etc. Lavinia dryly answers, "I would certainly pay attention to him." And lo and behold, she spends 3 years married to Aeneas. And then she goes back to live in the wilderness after he is killed in some kind of farming scuffle.
Unfortunately, I had stopped paying attention near the end of the book. The book is not written chronologically. Readers catch vignettes of Aeneas' and Lavinia's marriage throughout, so there is no momentum really, except for the poetry that Le Guin attempts to invoke.
I can understand how this old Old OLD poetry is gorgeous and heartbreaking, but it seems like no one had a sense of humor back then. Everything is weighted down with reverence and ceremony and gods' hands on the strings of fate. Meanwhile I'm thinking, "It's great that the skimming of milk will nourish the mouths of kings, but how am I ever supposed to get excited about typing numbers into a spreadsheet here? Modern life is empty drudgery!" The weightiness of this book has brought me a very grim Monday.