For a lot of young readers (and their parents) these books are the first time they consider issues like female agency, or what is appropriate for "children". So I think it's easy for the critique to get especially heated because it's part of a larger discourse of feminism, female readership and its relationship to sexuality, and the discursive creation of "childhood" (itself a relatively recent invention in the Western World, and a product of leisure time when youths no longer had to work). I think especially with the Meyer books, it might be the first time that these readers have thought critically about gender representation, which seems to be the chief complaint among paid critics who have shunned the series. And this may be only tangentially related, but it may also be the first time some readers encounter a Mormon author (unless they've read some Orson Scott Card). LDS has a tradition of "celestial" or eternal/spiritual marriage which, in a series about immortal beings, could be read as especially important.
I should also add that all I know of the books is what I've read on Wikipedia (I know, I know) and what my mother has told me of them. Yes, my mother reads the series.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-09-24 06:17 pm (UTC)I should also add that all I know of the books is what I've read on Wikipedia (I know, I know) and what my mother has told me of them. Yes, my mother reads the series.