Would you write a Sequence for Main on “Jane Austen: Rationalist”? Sure sounds better than “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”. Say, a series of 6 posts analyzing her classic novels the way you did in this comment, in more detail, with quotes, links and references?
I can see a world of good that could do:
Show historical context of some of the ideas of instrumental rationality
Break the stereotype that the majority of LWers are loser geeks who only read SF/F, and mostly fanfic, to begin with
Draw attention of the forum that some classic “earthfic” can be a worthwhile reading
Introduce the rationalist ideas to the new and mostly female crowd of Jane Austen afictionados
Contrast it with the false rationality of the straw vulcan trope
If anyone else wants me to I’ll probably have time to put something together next month (I’d need to reread the books). I’m not sure there’s enough material for a whole sequence though. I don’t remember Mansfield Park as very promising, and once you’ve said “generalizing from fictional evidence” you’re probably pretty much done with Northanger Abbey.
Wow, I never thought of it like this!
Would you write a Sequence for Main on “Jane Austen: Rationalist”? Sure sounds better than “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”. Say, a series of 6 posts analyzing her classic novels the way you did in this comment, in more detail, with quotes, links and references?
I can see a world of good that could do:
Show historical context of some of the ideas of instrumental rationality
Break the stereotype that the majority of LWers are loser geeks who only read SF/F, and mostly fanfic, to begin with
Draw attention of the forum that some classic “earthfic” can be a worthwhile reading
Introduce the rationalist ideas to the new and mostly female crowd of Jane Austen afictionados
Contrast it with the false rationality of the straw vulcan trope
If anyone else wants me to I’ll probably have time to put something together next month (I’d need to reread the books). I’m not sure there’s enough material for a whole sequence though. I don’t remember Mansfield Park as very promising, and once you’ve said “generalizing from fictional evidence” you’re probably pretty much done with Northanger Abbey.
Maybe a single Discussion post then, on the book of your choice, to gauge interest?