That's neat that you've corresponded with Kingsnorth; he seems like an interesting and complex person, especially after reading The Wake. I was very into Derrick Jensen for a long time in high school/undergrad and I knew of Kingsnorth as a sort of British equivalent. Having moved out of that phase (thank god) I was pleasantly surprised that The Wake seems so antithetical to the Jensenite ideology and even what I knew of Kingsnorth's. I'd love to talk about it with someone familiar with those ideas, but I don't want to spoil anything; you should definitely check it out. I think you'll find it interesting and surprising.
This is great, I've been looking forward to seeing some critical dialogue on this book since I read it (not that I really sought it out before). It's a shame so many people seem to be taking the lesson of this conversation to be "don't bother reading the book." I think that's a shame, especially since the piece doesn't discuss (insofar as it's outside of its purview) the book's themes, which are probably of interest to Toasties. As far as I read it, The Wake is a critique of toxic masculinity. Buccmaster is a vaguely mentally ill, buys into masculine narratives about individual independence and heroism, entertaining an intense bitterness against the Norman conquerors, very defensive about his class and gender privilege, inciting symbolic gestures of violence despite his quite angry disdain for the pre-conquest government. He's a terrorist, and he feels very much like how we conceptualize contemporary mass shooters. And because of its setting, it feels like a deconstruction of the heroic masculine insurrection narrative (a la Star Wars) so common in medieval fantasy.
So hopefully this doesn't feel like quibbling apologism, but I think Kingsnorth's use of contemporary homophobia and swears is in service of Buccmaster's characterization and these larger themes. Using real Old English swear words might better serve his attempt at historical authenticity, but they would feel quaint and lack the vulgar and violent sense that the anachronisms confer. Whether that's effective or worthwhile or not I can only voice my opinion, nor do I know if Kingsnorth was aware of the choice. But it seems like a more respectable rationale than the implication of laziness the authors arrived at?
Wait you have rats too? :3
I mean, talk about punching down, sheesh.
Having recently followed a possum pic aggregator page on fb, and being convinced of their general virtues of character and cuteness, it seems like you're on the wrong side of history this time. As a rat owner I can say that you get over the weird hairless tails pretty quickly.
It's a group on Slack where we share and comment on short pieces of fiction we've been working on. I can invite you to join if you're interested. It's pretty low-key and everyone's very friendly (I mean, we're all Toasties, so). If you want you can just send me your email address and I'll add you to the group (adamjameskranz@gmail.com).
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Contraption