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The Summer Prince
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From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 08:11:58 -0500
Today we begin our discussion of "The Summer Prince" by Alaya Dawn Johnson (Scholastic Press, 2013). For the next few days we'll talk about the book itself. Please also consider questions you have for Alaya Dawn Johnson. We're so happy she is willing to take questions and we will forward them to her midweek.
I'll begin by saying one of the things I appreciated about "The Summer Prince" was the way the unique setting of time and place were woven seamlessly into the narrative as we get to know/understand dimensions of life and government in Palmares Tres (I'm leaving off diacritics as I don't know how they will translate in various email programs) through June's perspective and experience. I felt like I was gaining an understanding of it all without it feeling laborious to me as a reader, something that I sometimes experience in science fiction or fantasy where the setting is complex.
And I did find this a complex, richly imagined setting, with fascinating dimensions, that offers a vivid glimpse of a future that has resonance for how we live our lives today: the tensions between technology and human existence; issues of human rights in a society where there is literally a leveled existence of privilege and access to resources and exploitation; and of course freedom of expression and ideas in society where the government fears losing control.
In the context of this discussion on sex and sexuality in young adult literature, I was struck deeply by the portryal of June and Enki and Gil as sexual beings. The immediate attraction between Enki and Gil that plays out over the course of the novel; June's feelings for Enki which she sets aside but never lets go of completely. I don't want t give the impression the novel is rampant with sex, it's more that the feelings of physicality are intense. It's expressed in a variety of ways--through dancing, for example, but also through sexual contact. To me that sense of sensuality and physicality is an essential dimension of a story in which one of the themes is what has or can be been lost in terms of human interactions because of technology. We hear about Tokyo 10 in the book, where many people no longer have bodies, they are data streams. The Japanese ambassador to Palmares Tres is a man in search of intense physical contact. We learn that Enki is getting outlawed technology from this man in exchange for the physical contact the ambassador desires. In that sense, sex is also a commodity, but I found myself sympathetic to both of them, something that surprised me.
Who else had a chance to read "The Summer Prince"? What struck you about the novel?
Megan
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 08:11:58 -0500
Today we begin our discussion of "The Summer Prince" by Alaya Dawn Johnson (Scholastic Press, 2013). For the next few days we'll talk about the book itself. Please also consider questions you have for Alaya Dawn Johnson. We're so happy she is willing to take questions and we will forward them to her midweek.
I'll begin by saying one of the things I appreciated about "The Summer Prince" was the way the unique setting of time and place were woven seamlessly into the narrative as we get to know/understand dimensions of life and government in Palmares Tres (I'm leaving off diacritics as I don't know how they will translate in various email programs) through June's perspective and experience. I felt like I was gaining an understanding of it all without it feeling laborious to me as a reader, something that I sometimes experience in science fiction or fantasy where the setting is complex.
And I did find this a complex, richly imagined setting, with fascinating dimensions, that offers a vivid glimpse of a future that has resonance for how we live our lives today: the tensions between technology and human existence; issues of human rights in a society where there is literally a leveled existence of privilege and access to resources and exploitation; and of course freedom of expression and ideas in society where the government fears losing control.
In the context of this discussion on sex and sexuality in young adult literature, I was struck deeply by the portryal of June and Enki and Gil as sexual beings. The immediate attraction between Enki and Gil that plays out over the course of the novel; June's feelings for Enki which she sets aside but never lets go of completely. I don't want t give the impression the novel is rampant with sex, it's more that the feelings of physicality are intense. It's expressed in a variety of ways--through dancing, for example, but also through sexual contact. To me that sense of sensuality and physicality is an essential dimension of a story in which one of the themes is what has or can be been lost in terms of human interactions because of technology. We hear about Tokyo 10 in the book, where many people no longer have bodies, they are data streams. The Japanese ambassador to Palmares Tres is a man in search of intense physical contact. We learn that Enki is getting outlawed technology from this man in exchange for the physical contact the ambassador desires. In that sense, sex is also a commodity, but I found myself sympathetic to both of them, something that surprised me.
Who else had a chance to read "The Summer Prince"? What struck you about the novel?
Megan
--
Megan Schliesman, Librarian
Cooperative Children's Book Center
School of Education
University of Wisconsin-Madison
600 N. Park Street, Room 4290
Madison, WI 53706
608-262-9503
608-262-4933 (fax)
schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
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Received on Mon 17 Mar 2014 08:12:20 AM CDT
