Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates/Dreamsnake/archive1

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Source checks[edit]

  • "Dreamsnake is considered an exemplar of second-wave feminism in science fiction, which had largely been devoted to masculine adventures prior to a body of science fiction writing by women in the 1960s and 1970s that subverted conventional narratives" I was able to check both sources but I have some concerns about SYNTH. Kilgore discusses "second-wave feminism" on a different page than the one cited (260 not 261) and Wolmark doesn't use this term, and in fact it's hard to see how she supports this sentence at all since Dreamsnake is not mentioned on the cited page.
    I don't think the link with Wolmark or Kilgore is as distant as you suggest, though perhaps I could expand the page ranges. Kilgore says quite clearly on 260 that he is analyzing Dreamsnake as an example of second-wave feminism's influence (I didn't cite 260 because the analysis itself is elsewhere, but I have now done so). Wolmark does not use the term "second-wave", it's true, but she supports the rest of the sentence; second-wave feminism is simply the contemporary term for feminism during the relevant period (60s-early 80s), which I do not believe is a controversial notion. Vanamonde (Talk) 21:49, 12 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • "As in McIntyre's later Starfarers books, women are depicted in many leadership positions" This is discussed on page 266 not 261
    Fixed, apologies. Vanamonde (Talk) 21:49, 12 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Citations to Kilgore p. 275 are OK.

Cheers, Buidhe: some replies. Can I interest you in a prose review? Vanamonde (Talk) 21:49, 12 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

  • The cited source, Cordle 2017, p. 177, does not use the phrase "low-tech tribalism". The only content about the book on the cited page is:

    In worlds with few books, libraries become objects of wonder. In Vonda McIntyre’s Dreamsnake (1978), set after nuclear war, a community of healers provides a small outpost of learning in a world falling into ignorance. Consequently, it is a poignant detail that Arevin, who “had heard of books, but... had never actually seen one”, notes, when he visits the healers, “two walls lined with shelves... full of them.

    "low-tech tribalism" is from Jordison in the Guardian. Cite duplicated.
  • "Snake also explores her sexuality while retaining more control over it than is typical for female characters in the genre" This is too closely paraphrased from the source.
    Rephrased slightly, but this is difficult; "exploring sexuality" is difficult to paraphrase, and, I'd argue, a common enough concept that the source has no hold over the phrase. Vanamonde (Talk) 22:46, 12 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Snake's name, and the snakes she uses, invoke images drawn from religion and mythology" this content is covered on page 279 of the cited source not 277
    Fixed, thank you. Vanamonde (Talk) 22:46, 12 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Article states that Center "is in contact with other planets"; Paulsen states, "it is rumored that the rulers of the city are in contact with beings from another planet who may or may not be human; but whether or not this is true remains a well-kept secret."
    Hmm, I suppose that's a little ambiguous; I don't often say this, but Paulsen is plain incorrect on that minor point; the primary text supports that very explicitly, and indeed a crucial plot point hinges on that piece of in-universe knowledge. Cited the primary text. Vanamonde (Talk) 22:39, 12 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Snake's centrality to the book allows McIntyre to explore gender as its central theme" I can't find this in Paulsen who doesn't explicitly mention "gender". (The other source explicitly supports it though. So I would just remove Paulsen as a source for this.)
    Removed as unnecessary, but Paulsen does touch on gender as a theme in the book at some length, despite not using the term "gender". Vanamonde (Talk) 00:28, 13 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • "The nomads respect individual strength" I don't see this in the discussion towards the end of page 105, which focuses on their respect for individual agency.
    I agree that "agency" is a better paraphrasing than "strength", and I have used that instead. Vanamonde (Talk) 00:28, 13 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
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