random trivia

[kaigou]

Just realized this on rereading Loveless vol 7. A character discusses a book in the library, and describes the story -- that story is Kate Millet's The Basement. I believe it may be out-of-print, but there are still used copies floating around. If you're curious about tracking it down, I will warn you, Millet does not pull her punches, and it is not a pleasant read. She goes deep into the heart of cruelty to explore the facts and possible motivations in a case that is almost unparalled for its brutality.

And, too, at the same time, I wonder at the question of whether Yun Kouga (the mangaka/author of Loveless) herself has read the book, and if so, how its themes and questions may have infused with the story Kouga has chosen to write. The perpetuation of cruelty upon another, for no reason other than cruelty itself, certainly seems to be an ongoing theme in the work.

Comments

[mikkeneko.livejournal.com]

At the very least it seems to be the theme of Seimei's narrative. I don't think there's any other character in the series who's quite that cruel.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Not nearly as cruel as him, no, but many of them seem to have the same kind of "because you were there, and I felt like it" attitude towards casual brutality. Seimei just elevates it to a degree to which no one else can compare.

One of the worst parts of Millet's reportage is that the neighborhood kids participated in the torture of one of their own, not 'egged on' by the adult so much as tacitly encouraged. Another theme echoed in Kouga's work.

[branchandroot]

It seems not unlikely. I'm almost positive her more theoretical work has been translated into Japanese, at lest.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

I'd read that section before and I think at the time may have thought it sounded familiar; it's only on rereading that I went, waitaminnit.

Just really impresses me, in some ways: Millet's not exactly the in the top five of popular-known feminist authors (though a powerhouse by any standards). To suspect that Kouga has not only read her, but even read one of the lesser-known works, really impresses me.

Or maybe I'm just a book-geek in that I find such references-to-external-things (like real-world texts) to add a depth and richness that doesn't exist in standalone stories.

[teeheeiambad.livejournal.com]

Haven't read "Loveless", but do know much about the case Millet's book was on.

Sick, sick, sick.