Esoteric Specialist Knowledge
Mar. 25th, 2024 07:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI’m going to say something messy, here goes.
I keep running across popular Tumblr posts celebrating esoteric specialist knowledge, both general posts celebrating the idea of people acquiring this knowledge + posts presenting this knowledge to a wider audience. I love these posts, and I’m always so entertained and impressed by them. And I think, But why don’t I have esoteric specialist knowledge?
The truth is that I do have specialist knowledge, but not in areas that anyone cares about. So let’s say that I really love gothic fiction, which is a popular subject on Tumblr. Unfortunately, I don’t know that much about British gothic fiction. I mean, I’m reasonably familiar, but still.
I know a whole lot about Japanese gothic fiction, but nobody cares about writers like Enchi Fumiko or Izumi Kyōka or Ogawa Yōko. Regardless of the fact that they’re absolutely brilliant.
And while we’re at it, do you know who creates truly amazing gothic fiction? Indian writers. Like damn, did the British leave behind all sorts of vampire-infested ruins in the jungle? Fuck yes they did.
Culture and specificity are vitally important, but there’s something about gothic themes that transcends time and place. The messiness of this comes from the fact that British (and, to a certain extent, American) fiction is considered “common culture” and “fair game,” while you need to be able to lay claim to a national/ethnic identity in order to be able to express interest in a culture outside of the Anglosphere.
So if I say, for example, that I’m very interested in Punjabi stories about women being rescued from their garbage husbands by shapeshifting boars that spirit them away to castles in the forest, it’s like, Oh? Are you from northern India?? Then why do you care??? Bitch I care because those stories are cool as hell.
And don’t get me started about the snakes who live in haunted palaces in Indonesia and Malaysia, and how they’re reinterpreted in contemporary Southeast Asian gothic mysteries, I am so gay
What I want to do is share esoteric specialist knowledge about gothic fiction that isn’t British, but what I’m going to need to do is give myself permission to cut out the part of my brain that has succumbed to internet discourse rot. Maybe the best way to think about this is that it’s okay, actually, to alienate intellectually lazy Americans who have reconfigured their ignorance as social justice. All the cool international goth lit nerds can stay.
ETA: I still want to talk about British fiction, though! Especially fiction written by men. I love gothic masculinity.
I keep running across popular Tumblr posts celebrating esoteric specialist knowledge, both general posts celebrating the idea of people acquiring this knowledge + posts presenting this knowledge to a wider audience. I love these posts, and I’m always so entertained and impressed by them. And I think, But why don’t I have esoteric specialist knowledge?
The truth is that I do have specialist knowledge, but not in areas that anyone cares about. So let’s say that I really love gothic fiction, which is a popular subject on Tumblr. Unfortunately, I don’t know that much about British gothic fiction. I mean, I’m reasonably familiar, but still.
I know a whole lot about Japanese gothic fiction, but nobody cares about writers like Enchi Fumiko or Izumi Kyōka or Ogawa Yōko. Regardless of the fact that they’re absolutely brilliant.
And while we’re at it, do you know who creates truly amazing gothic fiction? Indian writers. Like damn, did the British leave behind all sorts of vampire-infested ruins in the jungle? Fuck yes they did.
Culture and specificity are vitally important, but there’s something about gothic themes that transcends time and place. The messiness of this comes from the fact that British (and, to a certain extent, American) fiction is considered “common culture” and “fair game,” while you need to be able to lay claim to a national/ethnic identity in order to be able to express interest in a culture outside of the Anglosphere.
So if I say, for example, that I’m very interested in Punjabi stories about women being rescued from their garbage husbands by shapeshifting boars that spirit them away to castles in the forest, it’s like, Oh? Are you from northern India?? Then why do you care??? Bitch I care because those stories are cool as hell.
What I want to do is share esoteric specialist knowledge about gothic fiction that isn’t British, but what I’m going to need to do is give myself permission to cut out the part of my brain that has succumbed to internet discourse rot. Maybe the best way to think about this is that it’s okay, actually, to alienate intellectually lazy Americans who have reconfigured their ignorance as social justice. All the cool international goth lit nerds can stay.
ETA: I still want to talk about British fiction, though! Especially fiction written by men. I love gothic masculinity.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-28 08:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-30 12:14 am (UTC)Sorry, that's all I have to say.
But thank you so much for the encouragement to keep posting notes about gothic fiction!