Re: Insult (jara: Weekly Vocab 8)

Elyse Grasso wrote at 2003-05-23 15:01:22 (-0600)
 > On Friday 23 May 2003 12:29 pm, Roger Mills wrote:
 > >
 > > *Not sure that's the right word; those who've read The Left Hand
 > > of Darkness know what I mean.  "Kemmer" between siblings was
 > > tabooed, though it happened, and gave rise to several very
 > > touching tales in the book.
 > >
 > > In the book, LeG used "he" to refer to them, but in one or two
 > > ancillary stories, published later, she used "she", resulting in
 > > very interesting contrasts/connotations, at least for the
 > > Engl.-speaking reader.
 > >
 > >
 > Is it "Winter's King" that exists in both pronominal variants?

Yes. I read _The Wind's Twelve Quarters_, in which that story is
collected, recently, and this was mentioned in the notes.  It's there
recorded that "Winter's King" was written before _The Left Hand of
Darkness_, and Le Guin was not aware, at that time, that the
Gethenians were ambisexual.  When it was republished, she altered it
so as to fall in line with the later work, and made all the pronouns
feminine to provide contrast with it.

Incidentally, what Roger says above isn't entirely correct.  Incest
between siblings is not taboo;  however it becomes so after one of them
bears a child, and it is taboo for siblings to vow kemmering (that is,
to marry).