#two paragraphs of lymond so it counts i guess

[leojurand]

this might sound weird but i really like the casual misogyny in house of niccolò. it reminds me of that one post about realistic historical fiction. of course this men from the 15th century would think less of women simply because they're women.

it's not super prevalent within the main cast so it's not exhausting to read, but it is there sometimes and it reminds you of its ugly existence.

it's different from lymond. of course there's misogyny there too, but it's less offhand comments/thoughts and more deep-rooted, visceral stuff like everything surrounding joleta, which makes you wonder if it's actual, period typical misogyny or if it was dunnett not being careful enough with the storyline she wrote.

and you even have lymond himself making rape jokes which are really fucked up when you look back on them after reading the series, and lymond really loves women! as people and not just sexually! but he still makes those jokes (so does nicholas once or twice i believe).

but anyway, there's a huge difference, i feel, between the sexism surrounding the stories of characters like oonagh and joleta, and julius thinking something along the lines of "ugh why is a woman the head of a business that's so annoying". that's the kind of trivial misogyny that feels very real. julius doesn't say it, he still works for a woman, but he has those thoughts a few times.

i also think it works well because then you have a main character like nicholas, who tells a woman who wants to rule a kingdom that "in a perfect world the fittest would rule, irrespective of sex". and it doesn't feel like the author is trying to make the main character in her histfic more likeable by giving him modern views. because we're told from the beginning that nicholas is very loving and accepting, so of course he wouldn't be sexist. just like he loves and respects umar, when most other characters only see him as the black servant.

idk, i think dunnett in this series finds a very good balance between realistic portrayal of bigotry and a more subtle sort of storytelling with her female characters, like kathi's frustration over the expectations of her marriage vs her dream of going on adventures. it's good

i haven't read many recent histfic novels (or any at all) so i can't talk about the way they do it, but in my opinion this is a very good way of writing bigotry which makes the time period still immersive, but the novel(s) modern enough that it doesn't feel punishing to read