'The Professionals' Slash Proliferation Challenge

[kiwisue]

Tuesday 27th: Mafalda Stasi and Helen Raven

...Like any other text a slash text is a node in a web, a part of an often complex intertextual sequence, and it bears a close and running relationship with (at least) one other text. This is why I use the term palimpest to indicate a nonhierarchical, rich layering of genres, more or less partially erased and resurfacing, and a rich and complex continuum of themes, techniques, voices, moods and registers....
...Far from being a monolithic, repetitive set of substandard texts created by a naive set of scribbling women whose bizarre hobby stands apart from any self-respecting body of literature, slash is a legitimate part of the literary discursive field...

Mafalda Stasi, "The Toy Soldiers From Leeds: The Slash Palimpest": in Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet, ed. Hellekson and Busse, McFarland and Company, 2006.


From Helen Raven's The Same River:

“The humans you have sex with, do they please you with their cocks? With what they do with their cocks.”

A mechanoid showing curiosity about his sex life. Definitely a novelty.

Again, he considered lying, but the truth seemed to bring such interesting responses from Grey. “You’re the sum total of my sex life at the moment. It’s been a while since I had sex with a human.”

“When you did, then. Did he please you with his cock?”

It was some seconds before he replied, and then it was slowly. “Yes, he pleased me. Very much. But he’s dead now.”

“It was William Bodie, wasn’t it?”

He had got to his knees and was staring down at the machine. “It can’t be in the briefing. Nobody knew. I’m positive nobody knew.”

“It’s not in the briefing. That was my first guess.”

Doyle lay down again, but on his back. He felt suddenly exhausted. “You’re a clever machine, Grey. Maybe too clever for your own good.” He didn’t know what he meant by that. Just something to say. He closed his eyes and turned his head away. Silence again.

The mattress dipped then recovered. Floorboards creaked and pistons sighed.

“I have made you angry again.”

He opened his eyes. Grey was kneeling in front of him. “I’m not angry. I’m sad. Thinking about him makes me sad.” With an effort, he sat up. “It’s time I took you back.”

“Do you wish I was him?”

“I wish everyone was him. But you’ll do for now. Pass me my shirt.”


Click here to take part in the Pros Slash Proliferation Challenge!

Comments

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Sue, just seen this and I love your contribution. Why? Well, for a start, I'm so happy that someone has given due credit and recognition to one of the most beautiful Pros stories that I've ever read (it *deserves* to be *up* there!); and secondly, for the very interesting link:

(Slash) far from being a monolithic, repetitive set of substandard texts created by a naive set of scribbling women ......

....and if you need a good example to quash this urban myth, writers such as Helen Raven and works like The Same River are about as good as it gets.

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

It is, isn't it? In such a tragic, but almost holy way. In fact I've started to re-read it (this challenge is so not good for getting things done *g*).

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I may have to take back what I said about this challenge being a good idea - it's making me want to sit down and re-read all this gorgeous fic, and I have a cabin to pack! I was re-reading some Helen Raven the other week, but hadn't got to The Same River yet... How to squeeze it in?!

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

I am sorry (sorta!) - if it's any consolation this is having a bad effect on my other things I should be doing!

Hope you can get back on line quickly when you arrive - btw I will have an internet capable laptop, but might need some assistance in setting it up locally...

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

I know Mafalda and she gave a talk about her 'palimpsest' theory at the conference I went to in Leicester! I love her ideas.

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

I remember you wrote about it in your journal. It would have been great to hear her speak - the essay is probably the distilled core of her thinking, but I imagine (from her posts on lists etc) that she had more to say.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

She has been consistently interesting at Connotations (the slash writer's convention I go to in October) and I hope to hear more from her this year. She writes very 'dense' academic prose but sounds very lucid and sensible in conversation/debate. So far as we could gather she is deciding how far and in which direction to take her current writing/ideas. No doubt she will let us know!

[paris7am.livejournal.com]

I'm really loving the combinations you're giving - tweaking the grey matter here. Thinking about the layers and weaves in The Same River, you cannot help but admire the dexterity and genius with which HR handles these two plus Bodies (and to an extent, two Doyles). I've been thinking about other authors who've tried similar things - but sleep deprivation it making it difficult and I'm falling short... Thank you for sharing this brilliant passage.

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I think it's my magpie instinct for collecting snippets, and then the curiosity of teasing out the connections. Glad it works for you :-)

[faramir-boromir.livejournal.com]

“Do you wish I was him?”

“I wish everyone was him.

This is the basic heartbreak at the center of the story, and it's why it sounds both futuristic but very very human. This is what everyone feels when they lose someone they love.

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

That's another reason why I love HR's stories. She stays clear of cliche, sometimes appears cool and analytical in the way she describes things, but her depictions of emotions and behaviours are very human, very true, and usually positioned perfectly for maximum impact (as in this short quote).