TSOA felt like the epitome of queer romance written for straight people. Everything about their relationship was made heteronormative. Polygamy? Gone. Bisexuality? Gone. Shared status as soldiers? Gone. Instead, we get a prototypical passive protagonist with no personality, agency, or goals beside lusting after the masculine demigod whose feet smell like honey. And everybody praised it instead of treating it like Twilight.
The fact that this is still the face of gay male literature irks me to no end. People fall over themselves lauding straight authors for writing comfortable, familiar queer stories, but they leave incredible literature by so many queer authors unread.
SuspiciousReference9 t1_j20jejd wrote
Reply to comment by Bridalhat in Joining the “The Song of Achilles” Appreciation Club by my-nips-hurt
I totally agree with this.
TSOA felt like the epitome of queer romance written for straight people. Everything about their relationship was made heteronormative. Polygamy? Gone. Bisexuality? Gone. Shared status as soldiers? Gone. Instead, we get a prototypical passive protagonist with no personality, agency, or goals beside lusting after the masculine demigod whose feet smell like honey. And everybody praised it instead of treating it like Twilight.
The fact that this is still the face of gay male literature irks me to no end. People fall over themselves lauding straight authors for writing comfortable, familiar queer stories, but they leave incredible literature by so many queer authors unread.