Comments on The Handmaidens of Cthulhu

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Tigerprincess, I guess I'm thinking of The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. As I recall, it was definitely a demeaning thing to be a handmaid in that book. But if the term itself has avoided getting negative connotations, then I really do like the sound of "the handmaidens of Cthulhu".

Decshak, it would be interesting if Sycorax were a handmaiden. The only question that I would have is how enslaving and trading people would best serve Cthulhu. I don't like the term "sycophant", because it implies that the person was merely serving Cthulhu because she sought personal advantage. The handmaidens seek no personal advantage, they seek only to serve.  

Are you suggesting that I should devise a unique word to describe the handmaidens? Possibly, as long as it has some special significance. Obviously the general meaning of such a word would have to be something like "female servant", or at least "servant".

posted by zentropa on May 27, 2005 at 3:56 PM | link to this | reply

YOu could call them divas.....j/k... The term "handmaiden is not really condosending, it merely refers to a female..

posted by tigerprincess on May 27, 2005 at 10:54 AM | link to this | reply

Sycorax was a woman who made people into slaves and traded them.

She lived on an island in the Mediterranean off the coast of Africa.  She was the witch who imprisoned Ariel in Shakespeare's The Tempest.  Perhaps she was one of a tribe of sycophants of Cthulhu -- ones who held humans as having no value. 

posted by Decshak_ on May 27, 2005 at 9:11 AM | link to this | reply

Couldn't you scour the universe for something as unique as the word,

"Cthulhu"?

posted by Decshak_ on May 27, 2005 at 9:03 AM | link to this | reply

Anthony

I am touched that you are even making the effort to understand that you are.

I was always into science fiction when I was a teenager, and this has broadened into fantasy and horror. H. P. Lovecraft is a horror writer, and horror has no message other than, "Boo! Ha, ha, made you jump!" And yet the trip through fear that this requires of me as a writer is one that I find worth taking. For it also has flashes of awe and wonder that leave me feeling glad to be alive.

I dunno what to tell you, 'cause it's genre fiction, so it's just not going to be in everyone's taste. Harry Potter is a perfect example of this. My sister was madly into Harry Potter when it first came out, and she bought all the paraphernalia she could find. I read the first book, found it enjoyable enough to start reading the second, and then three-quarters of the way through I put it down and never picked it up again.

It's just different strokes for different folks.

posted by zentropa on May 27, 2005 at 7:28 AM | link to this | reply

Zentropa

You are involved in a type of writing that I never could identify with.

I had two sons that were into things like Star Wars, Lord Of The Rings and such, and they too were totally beyond me.

Of course with my having left school in the eigth grade, how could I ever identify intellectually with my children who are all graduates of this or that. A Masters here, and MBA there and English major and a science major. Sheesh.

You all have one thing in common that I am attracted to and that is the way you can write and think almost in another dimension from mine.

Now I'm enjoying you like one of my own and if your were one of my own, I'd say something like, hey Zen, name your female a "Broadmaiden" or something like that.

At least you know I was reading and respecting your talents even if I don't understand it all. Right hoss? 

posted by WileyJohn on May 27, 2005 at 5:28 AM | link to this | reply