and I think she wanted to marry him off to get rid of him and liberate herself to go do something else, not to make him happy, though there's definitely the issue of an author's love for her character
I've been told the same reasons for her creation of Harriet Vane (which is one of the reasons I'm so amused at the existence of Gaudy Night, because it's brilliant and far more complex than anything written to get rid of a character really deserves to be); I brought up Sayers primarily because she's the first example that comes to my mind of an author who fell in love with her character.* I'm not sure if it's a matter of listening closely to characters or simply being honest with yourself and them, but once she had created a fairly thorny emotional dilemma, Sayers didn't allow either Harriet or Peter a simplistic way out. I think one of the many problems with Children of God is just that. The end of The Sparrow acknowledged, very beautifully, that healing takes more than the love of a good women or a little help from your friends, that scars do not go away simply because you have shown people how you were wounded, and sometimes just getting out of bed in the morning is heroic. Children of God needed a quicker fix. And I objected to that.
*I have a professor who constitutionally refuses to like the mysteries for that reason, actually. I keep trying to persuade him to read the Harriet Vane quartet. It's uphill going all the way.
no subject
I've been told the same reasons for her creation of Harriet Vane (which is one of the reasons I'm so amused at the existence of Gaudy Night, because it's brilliant and far more complex than anything written to get rid of a character really deserves to be); I brought up Sayers primarily because she's the first example that comes to my mind of an author who fell in love with her character.* I'm not sure if it's a matter of listening closely to characters or simply being honest with yourself and them, but once she had created a fairly thorny emotional dilemma, Sayers didn't allow either Harriet or Peter a simplistic way out. I think one of the many problems with Children of God is just that. The end of The Sparrow acknowledged, very beautifully, that healing takes more than the love of a good women or a little help from your friends, that scars do not go away simply because you have shown people how you were wounded, and sometimes just getting out of bed in the morning is heroic. Children of God needed a quicker fix. And I objected to that.
*I have a professor who constitutionally refuses to like the mysteries for that reason, actually. I keep trying to persuade him to read the Harriet Vane quartet. It's uphill going all the way.