In the book canon, the Volturi have really unusual eyes, kind of cloudy(???) or something (honestly idk, I read the books ages ago, but for some reason that specific detail stuck with me), so I tried to show that
P.S I actually really love this detail, it’s like it shows that time does affect vampires
Hi. I like (and kinda love) Benjamin and Tia and think they are so underrated and that their relationship and general characters are never interpreted. So far, I haven’t found anything that says: yes, they loved each other very much, etc. Nor how they lived with Amun and Kebi. Were they supervised all the time like two children? Or when did they have time for themselves? Did they even have a bed, let alone a room to themselves?
I also think Tia is mentioned so little and only Benjamin, like: Ohhh Benjamin, the great treasure with his elemental powers. He is an exception, etc.
But Tia was the one who encouraged him (when they were children) to show his fire gift to their uncle…then he was a street performer and was discovered by Amun, who then transformed him…
So theoretically, this ONLY happened because of Tia. Her personality and beauty (she is really almost comparable to Rosalie) are also hardly emphasised. So how often Benji and Tia can sleep with each other (you know…)? Do they suffer from their home environment (Amun and Kebi)? Would they go/ run away to the Cullens? Why? Would Tia be silenty accepted by the Cullens or would she receive more attention (which she deserves) ? PS: i am not from an English speaking country so sorry when you cant read everythink. But Merry Christmas (i know its two days to late) and a Happy New Year!
And can i please be anonym?
I agree that Benjamin (and Tia) often get overshadowed by Benjamin’s power. It’s like “OH WOW! LOOK HOW SPECIAL HE IS” but we don’t get as much about their personalities or relationship.
One thing that’s interesting about Tia is that while she is from the 1800s, that name was actually in use in Ancient Egypt, too! There were a number of princesses and noblewomen with that name, as well as similar names like Tiye and Tey. I don’t get the sense that Amun or Kebi are all that interested in her, but they might like her name. It would seem familiar to them, anyway.
I think I remember in the guide it says that she also has a beautiful singing voice, which made her uncle like her (she could make money by singing). Not as impressive as fire magic, but still! A reliable money-maker and a real talent. I wonder if maybe, since she doesn’t have a ‘gift’ per se, that she might have 'enhanced singing’ or that her voice is even more beautiful than the average vampire (like Rosalie’s enhanced beauty or Emmett’s enhanced strength).
I think also that SM says they live in an abandoned underground temple with Amun, who is paranoid about Aro finding out about Benjamin and taking him away like he did with Demetri. I don’t know what that’s supposed to look like in terms of 'rooms’ or whatever. It also feels weird given my long-standing interest in ancient Egypt. If it’s underground it’s probably a tomb, not a temple. Maybe she just means the ruins of a temple that has been buried by centuries or sand vs actually 'underground?’
My take is that Benjamin has adopted Amun as a father-figure not because he doesn’t understand that Amun’s kind of using him but because that’s what he’s used to? It was the same with the uncle who raised him, he was valuable and 'loved’ because of his talent. The dynamic is no doubt dysfunctional, but it’s familiar to Benjamin, it reads as 'family’ to him. The guide also says that Tia is not as fond of Amun or Kebi and totally understands why Amun’s interest in Benjamin is, but they both want to see Benjamin safe and protected so in that sense she and Amun are on the same page. Likewise I think Amun puts up with Tia’s presence because she makes Benjamin happy and less like to run away.
I don’t really get the sense that Amun treats them like “children,” it’s more than he’s protective of Benjamin because of his power, and would be the same way about it if Benjamin were physically 30. I think Amun has been a vampire for SO LONG that human concepts of children or teenagers are just not something to considers much. I don’t know how much privacy there is in the hidden underground temple or whatever, but I think Amun and Kebi accept the two are mates and will do what mates do and it’s whatever. It’s normal.
As for if they will ever run away … maybe. If SM were interested in a bigger story than Bella’s vampire power fantasy, then I certainly think the events of Breaking Dawn could open Tia and Benjamin’s eyes about the wider vampire world and how they don’t have to live by Amun’s rules. It also showed them that there were covens that were united by something other than powers (Carlisle and Esme love their 'children’ whether they have powers or not) and the vegetarian diet might also be something interesting to them. The Guide says that Tia and Benjamin have strong senses of right and wrong. Might the vegetarian option appeal to them? Maybe. I mean what was the point of Garrett’s speech about how the Cullens “have they found something worth even more, perhaps, than mere gratification of desire?” if literally none of the others become vegetarians. Like you’d think the point of a speech like that would be some converts, yeah? But no. Only Garrett himself and mostly because he wants to get with Kate. If Benjamin and Tia had been moved by Garrett’s speech that could have been really interesting! Maybe it will still happen down the line. I don’t know if they would actually join the Cullens, they might choose instead to become another 'cousin’ coven and travel the world after being hidden so long.
Well, Cindy, at least we can all agree your design is always in demand:
Just keep the kids away, k? We have a reputation to consider.
Thanks to Debby G., Catie C., Veronica F., Wendy T., & Teresa C. for not gushing too much over the little squirts.
*****
P.S. Forget the cakes, the holidays left my house wrecked. I'm so ready for a big purge and organizing blitz - and eyeballing nifty little turntables like this:
This is a screenshot from one of the twilight movies. I dont remember which one specificaly sorry lol
But that bite mark got me thinking
He had this guy’s whole-ass thumb in his mouth to bite him.
I tried and put my thumb in my mouth to replicate that bite mark. I hit the back of my throat.
This vampire deep-throated this guy’s thumb. To bite him. That was a choice he made. Putting the guy’s whole-ass thumb in his mouth could’ve easily been avoided. But no. That was delibarate.
This poetic genre looks fascinating, with complex social dynamics in its composition and reception. I really do need to track down the book by Ruth Vanita that's evidently the main source for this article.
Srivastava, Manjari & Manjari Shrivastava. 2007. “Lesbianism in Nineteenth Century Erotic Urdu Poetry “Rekhti”” in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 68, Part One: 965-988
Looking at the endnote citations, this article leans very heavily on Ruth Vanita’s Love’s Rite: Same-Sex Marriage in India and the West, to the extent where I wonder if it might make more sense to skip this article and work harder to acquire a copy of the latter. (It’s been on my list, but I haven’t found a copy.) The article has a lot of typos, editorial oversights (like repeated phrases), and very odd word choices that either look like homophone errors or dictionary look-up errors. (For that matter, it makes me wonder if the near-doublet author attribution is another editorial issue.) So I’m torn, because Vanita is a well-respected scholar in the field of Indian queer history, but I’m not sure I have confidence that this article reflects that material accurately.
# # #
Rekhti is a genre of Urdu erotic poetry, spinning off from the formal, classical ghazal poetic genre. Rekhti differs both in the point of view of the poetic persona, in the subject matter, and in the use of language. Within Urdu culture (a southern Indian Muslim culture whose language has a strong admixture of Persian in an Indic base), traditional ghazal poetry had two modes: “Persian” in which the poetic persona is male and the beloved can be male or female, and “Indic” in which the poetic persona is female and the beloved is male. (The poets were overwhelmingly male in all cases. Historic writings refer to female Rekhti poets but their work was not preserved.) Rekhti poetry used a female poetic persona addressing, most typically, a female beloved, and the language used was everyday female-coded language rather than the male-coded and higher register language typically used in other ghazal poems. (Ghazal poetry was often written in Persian rather than Urdu.)
Rekhti poetry arose in the late 18th century, associated with a handful of prominent poets such as Rangeen, who is credited for naming the movement. Another prominent Rekhti poet, Hashimi, is credited with developing several of the key features, such as themes related to the domestic lives of elite women and the use of female-coded vocabulary and speech patterns. Other key themes include realistic language rather than poetic ambiguity, an allowance for using proper names (rather than always referring to “lover” or “beloved”), and a move away from idealizing the beloved to the point sometimes of criticism or mockery. By the mid 19th century, Rekhti poetry—while still focused on women’s domestic lives—moved away from sexually explicit language and motifs of lesbian sex.
The article discusses the vocabulary of female same-sex erotics contained in the poetry, some of which has either survived to the present or perhaps has been reclaimed. One set of terms derive from the root “chapat” (literally having to do with “to stick, to adhere, to cling to”), including “chapat,” “Chapti,” and “chapatbazi” referring to lesbian activity. “Chapatbaz” refers to a women who engages in sex with women. (A Victorian lexicographer in an 1884 Urdu-English dictionary veiled the meaning by using Latin: “Chapatbaz - Femina libidini Sapphicare indulgens; caoatbazi [sic, possible error for “capatbazi”?] Congressus libininosus duarum mulierum.”) Another British record of 1900 listed five terms related to lesbianism: dugana (or dogana), zanakhi, sa’tar, chapathai, and chapatbaz. “Dogana,” meaning “doubled” also refers to paired fruits enclosed together, such as a double-nutted almond. The sources and usage of these terms is described by the poet Rangeen, accompanied by descriptions of rituals used by the couple to define sexual gender roles within the relationship.
Dogana – Twin or doubled (fruit). The couple shells almonds until they find a doubled nut, in which one kernel is embedded in the other. The kernals are given to a stranger who is told to distribute them to the women and the one given the embedded nut takes the “female” role.
Zanakhi – Literally the wishbone of a chicken. The couple cook and eat a chicken together then break the wishbone between them and the one with the larger piece takes the “male” role.
Ilaichi – Literally “cardamom”. The two women open pairs of cardamom pods and count the number of seeds. If one has an odd number and the other an even number, the one with the even number takes the “male” role. If both pods are even or both odd, they try again. Feeding each other cardamom is associated with sweetening the breath before sex.
Non-monogamous dynamics within women’s relationships is indicated by the term “sihgana” which refers to a female beloved’s other female lover, generally associated with jealousy.
In addition to Rekhti poetry using these special terms, the language of heterosexual marriage may be used for female couples, but also the language of fictive sisterhood.
The article provides multiple examples of poems (in translation) to illustrate prominent themes, such as a desire for secrecy or fear of discovery, and the context of love affairs, such as the practice of households sleeping in gender-segregated areas of the rooftop during hot weather.
Although later commentary sometime tries to downplay the gender dynamics of the poetry, arguing that the beloved should be understood as representing an ungendered God, the imagery of the poems clearly uses gendered clothing and descriptions.
The cast of characters within Rekhti poetry is almost entirely female—a social context that in everyday life might be found either within the women’s quarters of a family compound or in a courtesan household. The association of courtesans with lesbian relationships may related to sexual stereotypes of prostitutes, but the article also notes that courtesans were the rare women who had access to education, mobility, and control of their own finances. Some Rekhti poems include descriptions that strongly suggest a courtesan context. The setting of the poems is always urban, including when describing gardens.
(In the context of associating lesbianism with prostitutes, there is a translated quote from a 12th century commentary on the Kamasutra talking about male homosexuals then adding “women behave in the same way. Sometimes, in the secret of their inner rooms, with total trust in one another, they lick each other’s vulva, just like whores.”)
British colonial rule had multiple effects on Urdu language and poetry, including suppression of erotic poetry and stigmatizing of practices seen as gender-transgressive, such as the use of female pen names by male poets. These effects continue to impact how Rekhti poetry is understood and discussed by modern scholars. The article discusses the differences between stereotype and reality regarding female seclusion and female poetic performance in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The article concludes with a consideration of the extent to which Rekhti poetry can be understood as reflecting actual women’s lives as opposed to the interpretation that it represents male fantasies of women’s lives.
With the usual caveat that beauty is subjective, this is how I would rank them based on how beautiful Stephenie Meyer seems to want us to think they are.
Rosalie. Sure, Edward gets more descriptions of how gorgeous he is, but Bella's in love with him. But even Bella admits that it's hard for her to say whether the bronze haired boy or perfect blonde girl is more beautiful as a first impression, so I think Rose wins. She's jaw-droppingly gorgeous on the same level as the fated soulmate Bella's instantly drawn to. Also her, power is enhanced beauty. She wins.
Edward. Because . . . read the books? Just constant descriptions of how beautiful he is. But it's not just because Bella's in love with him because other people are staring in awe at him too, like Mrs. Cope in the office or the waitress. Also Tanya was into him.
Carlisle. Again, Bella describes him as especially good-looking, Charlie says "you should see the doctor." Renee thinks he looks like a model. Bella says he's handsomer than any movie star.
Alice. Not as gorgeous as Rosalie, more "cute" than "beautiful" but still lots of loving descriptions of her ballerina-dancing around and being adorable. Also, SM obviously loves Alice. Often talks about how she would love a sister/best friend like her. But she does have a bad haircut and is "thin in the extreme" from being malnourished and apparently venom did not boost her back to a sexy weight like it did for Bella.
Emmett. Again, SM loves him. She's openly talked about how he seems like more fun than Jasper. She writes him like he's the best big brother ever, which limits somewhat her descriptions (you shouldn't think your big brother is hot), but he's clearly supposed to be very attractive in a big, buff guy way vs lanky Edward.
Esme. Like Snow White. But she's more 'rounded and soft' than most perfect vampires because she was turned so soon after having a baby. Also, again, she's primarily here is as the Mom so Bella isn't seeing her as especially hot. (Carlisle is less 'the dad' imo--Charlie is The Dad from Bella's POV--and more The Leader and so he can be Hot). More "pretty" than "beautiful."
Jasper. The scars. SM/Bella says the scars make him scary, it's written on his skin he's been in a hundreds of fights and always won. Sexy, maybe, if you're into that kind of thing, but not 'beautiful' by the Bella/SM standard.
As for Bella, she described her vampire-self as "every bit as lovely as Alice or Esme," so vampire-pretty but not Edward/Rosalie/Carlisle WOW. She'd probably put herself after Esme because self-esteem issues, but SM might place her after Alice or Emmett?
Renesmee, hard to say, because she's literally a baby, but I'm sure SM intends for her to be top tier beautiful since she looks so much like Edward but with Bella's chocolate eyes and Charlie's curls.
They say Santa just wasn't the same after that visit.
*****
Everyone did their best to stay nonchalant, but like moths to a flame, they were inexorably drawn to Eeyore's new lower back tattoo:
*****
The silence stretched out painfully, and now everyone was looking at him. Curse that mechanic and his "ultra performance diesel shake"!
*****
It really was a great place for cookouts and casual get-togethers... provided you never made eye contact with the ducks:
Thanks to Susan L., Laura K., Beth J., & Warren G. for the fowl play.
*****
P.S. Forget the cakes, this month has left my house wrecked. I'm so ready for a big purge and organizing blitz - and eyeballing nifty little turntables like this:
It's hard to tell whether the content in this article is thin because there isn't much to say or because of the overall superficiality of the work. I'm guessing the latter, as other articles and books I've found on India have been richer.
Shah, Shalini. 1991. “Women and Sexuality in the Mahabharata” in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 52: 138-144.
In addition tot he superficial nature of this article, there were numerous editorial problems with it, leading me to question the professionalism of the parent publication.
# # #
This article is very short, more a set of presentation bullet-points than a full article. Only one small section is relevant and that material is given rather odd connections to Classical Greek motifs. Given that the whole article is somewhat cursory, I feel more forgiving of the briefness of the material.
The article notes “There is only a solitary reference to relations between individuals of the same sex. In the Anushasana Parva Panchachuda tells Narada that when women find no males at hand, they satisfy each other’s desires.” This is also a reference to another publication describing “solitary women who would dress up their female friends as males and passionately embrace them.” The author suggests these practices were due to the segregation of women in polyamorous patriarchal households.
When Bella finds out she’s pregnant in BD, she mentions that her last period was 16 days before the wedding (the wedding took place on August 13th 2006) and that at the time of her phonecall with Carlisle (which was 17 days after the wedding) she was 5 days late. She also mentions that her period is never late.
This means that her cycle is 28 days exactly (16+17-5) and that her last period began on July 28th 2006. That was also her last period EVER btw because then she got pregnant and then was immediately changed.
So I counted backwards to every single one of Bella’s periods, from her last one before she changed, to the first one after she moved to Forks. The results:
To elaborate, Bella was on her period:
When she first met Edward at biology class (January 18th 2005)
At the meadow (March 12th) and baseball game (March 13th)
The first time she heard Edward’s voice in NM (January 16th 2006)
When she bought the bikes and she started repairing them with Jake (January 17-18th)
When she and Jacob did homework together and she invited him to the movies (February 14th)
The day she realized Jacob is a werewolf (March 11th)
Quite possibly when she jumped off the cliff, depending on how long it lasts for her (March 16th)
When
Jacob confronted Edward and Bella about the treaty and gave Bella back her motorcycle (April 7th)
When Edward caught Riley’s scent at Bella’s house (June 2nd)
At the Quileute bonfire
(June 3rd)
When Jacob went missing in BD (Late June/Early July)
If it's the scene I'm thinking of he says 'kwop kilawtley' and there are two translations I've seen. One is "I love you" and the other is "stay with me forever."
The IMDB page lists the "stay with me forever" translation in the New Moon trivia section and the one I see more often in fandom spaces.
In the last couple years I've moved my non-LHMP book reviews over to Dreamwidth to keep a certain separation between my voice as an author and my voice as a reader. But I want to give this one a bit more visibility.
Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer is not simply my favorite book of the year, but is my candidate for Best Book of the Year overall. This is not simply a book about history but is a book about the process of history. It demonstrates the fractal messiness of the people, places, and events that we try to tidily sort into specific eras, and especially how all those people, places, and events are braided together into a solid fabric. Palmer doesn’t shy away from pointing out how thoroughly our understanding of history is shaped by the prejudices and preoccupations of historians; she embraces this aspect noting at every turn how her own take is shaped by her love of the city of Florence and especially its most controversial son, Machiavelli.
But what makes this book great is the humor poured into the cracks around the politics, violence, and art. (A recurring feature is little comic dialogues that summarize key events in a narrative style familiar to anyone on Twitter or Bluesky. I desperately want to see these presented in visual format, whether as live theater or animated shorts. It’s hard to pick a favorite line, but the top two are “Maria Visconti-Sforza: I’m standing right here!” and “King of France: You Italians are very strange.”)
The book concludes with what I can only describe as a stump speech for the importance to the contemporary world of studying and understanding history, embracing the necessary messiness of “progress,” and the hope that we can indeed continue the Renaissance project of reaching for a better world.
This is a very long book, though paced in manageable chapters. When I decided to read it and found that the audiobook was the same price as the hardcover, I went for audio (at over 30 hours!) and listened to it while taking the train home from the International Medieval Conference. The narration is top-notch, capturing the emotional range of the text perfectly. The side benefit is that the combination of material, voice, and length made it perfect to add to my “sleep-aid audiobooks” collection, which means I get to enjoy it over and over again (in the bits and pieces I consciously hear). But of course I bought the hardcover too, not only so I could get Palmer to autograph it, but because I needed to be able to track down my favorite bits and check out the footnotes.
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
panlight_tumblr_feed
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
momijizukamori
