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Feb. 1st, 2008 03:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsIf I have one fandom I'm really deeply and scarily and permanently attached to, I think, the way so many of you are about Supernatural or Lost and many other wonderful and worthwhile things, it's Diana Wynne Jones books. I am here asserting my right to spam about them! *plants flag, looks defiant*
For those of you who know the books but don't follow![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
dianawynnejones: Diana Wynne Jones has said recently in a letter that Cat Chant, from the Chrestomanci books, is written as slightly autistic.
I find this utterly fascinating, especially having just recently read Diane Duane's take on autism. On an initial think back to the character, that characterization seems to make a lot of sense to me in terms of the way Cat is described as perceiving the world, and interacting with others. (For context, DWJ has also said in interviews that she thinks that she herself is somewhere on the autistic spectrum.) But your thoughts, show me them!
For those of you who know the books but don't follow
dianawynnejones: Diana Wynne Jones has said recently in a letter that Cat Chant, from the Chrestomanci books, is written as slightly autistic. I find this utterly fascinating, especially having just recently read Diane Duane's take on autism. On an initial think back to the character, that characterization seems to make a lot of sense to me in terms of the way Cat is described as perceiving the world, and interacting with others. (For context, DWJ has also said in interviews that she thinks that she herself is somewhere on the autistic spectrum.) But your thoughts, show me them!
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Date: 2008-02-02 12:01 am (UTC)Helpful drinken comment. |:D
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Date: 2008-02-02 12:09 am (UTC)And yeah, that's really what made me think 'oh that makes sense!' - how he's kind of unsure about how to cope with these weird 'emotional reaction' and 'social behavior' things, and it's easiest for him to react the way people seem to expect him to. Which is why Gwendolen's able to drag him around so much.
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Date: 2008-02-02 01:41 am (UTC)Also I'm currently reading Dark Lord of Derkholm and as a geek who's played D&D, its making me glee and laugh a lot.
She's so wonderful and thoughtful with her characters no matter their shape.
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Date: 2008-02-02 01:55 am (UTC)Dark Lord of Derkholm is fabulous. I'd never played D&D when I read it the first time, but I was an established fantasy geek, and she skewers all of the typical tropes in such hilarious ways. And still manages to get meaningful character relationships in there. Am I too old to say I want to be her when I grow up?
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Date: 2008-02-02 02:11 am (UTC)But.
From your previous post, the idea that you can just "fix" autism bothers me.
A lot.
I mean, technically, you COULD, sort of. A lot of it has to do with neural connections and the way the brain works. It's an extremely physically-caused ...disorder. And if you fix the physical problems, the person would suddenly see things in a different light. THey'd have to get used to them.
But...
Yeah. That concept really bothers me. Probably because of my personal and family history with the autism spectrum. Unless you were to fix the neural problems, you can't just "fix" autism. .....rrgh.
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Date: 2008-02-02 02:38 am (UTC)On the other hand, I would highly recommend the Diana Wynne Jones books. They're fantasy novels set in a slightly different universe, vaguely Edwardian, in which magic is both common and government-regulated. The one starring Cat is called Charmed Life, and the book is from his perspective, and I've always found the way he was drawn as a character very cool and interesting - doubly so, now that I know he was written as slightly autistic.
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Date: 2008-02-03 07:48 pm (UTC)Video games and work are my life. (WOW = <3. Yay socializing with people who love me.)
But I will keep them in mind. Cause they do sound interesting.
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Date: 2008-02-04 05:06 pm (UTC)The autism curing/treatment thing makes me frown, because I have a cousin who is slightly autistic. He can't just "cast it aside." It's who he is.
Oh, and speaking of Diana Wynne Jones, there was an article/interview with her in the SFX Annual 2008: The Year Book, with her talking about her opinion of the animated movie version of Howl's Moving Castle. I keep meaning to buy the magazine, then I could scan and share.
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Date: 2008-02-05 06:28 am (UTC)And yes - it makes me frown too, for similar reasons; I knew enough autistic or Asperger's people growing up to feel very much the same way about it.
Oooh, I will have to keep an eye out for that.
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Date: 2008-02-05 05:33 pm (UTC)... eeeeee. :D! )
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Date: 2008-02-05 02:36 pm (UTC)What is a good one of hers to start with?
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Date: 2008-02-05 06:44 pm (UTC)Um. It depends what you're in the mood for! Let's see. I have a strong personal bias towards The Homeward Bounders, but it's a bit darker than some of her others. Howl's Moving Castle is pretty universally liked; it's fun and cheerful and does a lot of playing with fantasy tropes, so I would say that's probably the best place to start. The Chrestomanci books - Charmed Life or The Lives of Christopher Chant, to start, although there are a few more - are also a lot of fun, and a good introduction to her kind of universe setup.
I would probably not start with Fire and Hemlock or Time of the Ghost. Deep Secret and Hexwood are also fabulous (and Deep Secret is set, awesomely, at a fantasy con!) but you might want to get a bit more used to her kind of madcap plot style before starting them.
. . . and now I should stop before I get into listing the pros and cons of EACH AND EVERY BOOK. >.>
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Date: 2008-02-12 12:48 am (UTC)*/end invasion*
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Date: 2008-02-12 01:30 am (UTC)