Temeraire Discussion starter 4) The significance

RichardAbbott

Lots of stories work by trying to map present-day issues onto other more-or-less parallels. Was this the case here? Or was it attempting to just be a fun read? Do you like extra depth to a story? Does it matter whether it's skilfully or clumsily done?

Apocryphal

I suspect the goal was ‘fun read’, maybe with some exploring in terms of inter-character relations. The book didn’t really approach military life (and especially not tactics) the way most napoleonic fiction does, and it didn’t come anywhere near exploring the life of the mount the way a story like Black Beauty does, so it didn’t really seem to be ‘about’ those things. I think it was more about (a) just exploring the idea of dragons in the role of planes, and (b) exploring the Laurence-Temeraire relationship.

clash_bowley

@Apocryphal said:
I think it was more about (a) just exploring the idea of dragons in the role of planes, and (b) exploring the Laurence-Temeraire relationship.

Bingo

NeilNjae

I didn't pick up any particular subtext or exploration of issues, beyond what's commonplace in Napoleonic fiction: the notion of duty and sacrifice, the British class system, the restricted role of women, that kind of thing.

As for the Laurence-Temeraire relationship, I was never sure if it was supposed to be romantic or platonic. It kept crossing and re-crossing that line.

RichardAbbott

@NeilNjae said:
As for the Laurence-Temeraire relationship, I was never sure if it was supposed to be romantic or platonic. It kept crossing and re-crossing that line.

Going back a few years to the Dragonriders of Pern series, Naomi Novak here avoids the topic that Anne McCaffrey tackles head-on, viz sex between two dragons triggering simultaneous sex between their riders. So here, although the closeness of relationship between dragon and rider is emphasised many times, it doesn't quite stray over that line.

NeilNjae

I was thinking about all the times Laurence calls Temeraire "dear" and other such terms of endearment. I think the relationship is meant to be more than just platonic friendship. I'm not sure what to make of the fact that both Laurence and Temeraire are male: was Novik deliberately coding them as gay or bisexual?

clash_bowley

@NeilNjae said:
I was thinking about all the times Laurence calls Temeraire "dear" and other such terms of endearment. I think the relationship is meant to be more than just platonic friendship. I'm not sure what to make of the fact that both Laurence and Temeraire are male: was Novik deliberately coding them as gay or bisexual?

In the Aubrey-Maturin novels the two principals call each other 'dear' all the time. I just think men weren't afraid of showing affection to their friends back then.