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naraburns  nihil supernum  3yr ago (text post)   18023 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 19, 2022

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Odd, that excerpt there has me wincing because of the fake-Olde Englishe. Does Addison explain the distinction between use of "Thou/You" in her novel, or is it there just to make it sound "These Elves are Formal (and stuck-up pricks)"?

Besides, it should be "Thou shalt not rule me", not "Thou wilt not". See Arthur Hugh Clough's "The Latest Decalogue" (seemingly there are a couple of versions of it):

The Latest Decalogue

Arthur Hugh Clough

Thou shalt have one God only; who

Would be at the expense of two?

No graven images may be

Worshipped, except the currency.

Swear not at all; for, for thy curse

Thine enemy is none the worse.

At church on Sunday to attend

Will serve to keep the world thy friend.

Honour thy parents; that is, all

From whom advancement may befall.

Thou shalt not kill; but need'st not strive

Officiously to keep alive

Do not adultery commit;

Advantage rarely comes of it.

Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat,

When 'tis so lucrative to cheat.

Bear not false witness; let the lie

Have time on its own wings to fly.

Thou shalt not covet, but tradition

Approves all forms of competition.

The sum of all is, thou shalt love,

If anybody, God above:

At any rate shall never labour

More than thyself to love thy neighbour.

Variant version:

Thou shalt have one God only; who

Would tax himself to worship two?

God's image nowhere shalt thou see,

Save haply in the currency:

Swear not at all; since for thy curse

Thine enemy is not the worse:

At church on Sunday to attend

Will help to keep the world thy friend:

Honour thy parents; that is, all

From whom promotion may befall:

Thou shalt not kill; but needst not strive

Officiously to keep alive:

Adultery it is not fit

Or safe, for women, to commit:

Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat,

When 'tis so lucrative to cheat:

False witness not to bear be strict;

And cautious, ere you contradict.

Thou shalt not covet; but tradition

Sanctions the keenest competition.

And the description makes me think it will be awful: of course our hero is half-caste (to use an outmoded term), of course it's all about "women are more than broodmare fodder", of course, of course, of course it's the George R.R. Martin view of history and of course all the Right-Thinking People have the attitudes of the most progressive 21st century American.

So I'm surprised you say it's good! If it can overcome all those disadvantages of sounding like a Social Justice sermon then there must be something like a really good plot going on!

The writing is extremely well done, same with the politics and intrigue.

She does specifically use the formal second person for the emperor, and makes it a big deal when he switches to first person. It was one of my favorite quirks in the book.

It’s definitely a bit of a coming of age story, but I’m a sucker for those anyway. Would recommend if you’re curious it’s a pretty short read.

"Thou/You" in her novel, or is it there just to make it sound "These Elves are Formal"

This in my mind is always a pretty funny trope because thou is grammatically the informal pronoun of the two, while you descends from the formal pronoun. That it sounds formal is, to my knowledge, part of that lovely cognitive bias that old is formal.

Which is in part because thou is, to most Americans, mostly found in religious contexts or poetry they had to read in school.

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