Anyone know where online I can find Mr Card's rebuttal to the stupid Ender's Game is an Apology To Hitler paper(s)?
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
I'm pretty sure that last time you asked this question someone pointed you to the information you'd need to track it down in print, and nobody knew of an online copy. I doubt that particular magazine edition has been digitized and published online in the meantime.
Posted by Abel Magwitch (Member # 11867) on :
I'm still not sure why Card bothered to offer a rebuttal in the first place. The only reason that "ender and hitler: sympathy for the superman" gained any notoriety is the fact that it compared the life of Hitler to that of a character in a famous science fiction novel.
The actual writing and rhetoric of the piece is sub-par at best. Even if Radford was proven to be right, I would still denounce her essay as shoddy work.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Someone did a much better not liking Ender's Game essay.
Posted by Abel Magwitch (Member # 11867) on :
quote:Originally posted by Synesthesia: Someone did a much better not liking Ender's Game essay.
I believe you are referring to Kessel's essay, and yes it was at least coherent and in many ways logically sound. On the other hand, his basic understanding of human nature seems to be quite flawed as he appears to think that portraying a character as selfish is the same as making them into a heartless villain. In reality, the average human is VERY selfish.
I think that people just need to take such essays with a grain of salt. These writers clearly want their work to be read (who wouldn't?), so they pick popular works with controversial topics (like genocide) to write about.
It really is a pity that they don't use their time for more productive endeavours as it is unlikely that they will sway fans of Card's works. This, of course, is just my opinion, but it is the opinion of someone who dislikes most of Card's world views, and even so, finds these attempts to reveal allegory where it does not exist... most pitiful.
[ February 08, 2010, 09:02 PM: Message edited by: Abel Magwitch ]