Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
...I’m going to pose a question about van Gulik’s attitude toward women. Was he just reflecting the reality of Chinese life at that time, or perhaps, unfortunately, mid-20th century attitudes? It was interesting to me that the only mystery that wasn’t happily resolved was that of the missing women, who was tortured, then killed, by a sadistic lesbian. Was the woman more disposable than the characters in the other mysteries?
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That the antagonist in that tale was a sadistic lesbian is unfortunate, but then 1949 wasn't exactly known for enlightened attitudes toward women or homosexuals. That's a problem, along with blatant racism I find in many of the older novels. I try not to judge the authors by 21st century standards, however, and I hope I won't be judged too harshly by 22nd century standards.