Introduction

Hi. My name is Mandie, and I am a feminist.

I'm also an historian.  I have degrees in history, literature, and women's studies.  I'm opinionated, politically left wing, and an atheist.  I've survived rape and domestic abuse.  I mention these things because they inherently color my perspective on everything I encounter.  As an historian it's my job to remain neutral and objective when reviewing and analyzing sources.  But analyzing literature, especially popular literature, is different from analyzing history.  Literature (well, the arts in general) evoke emotions and personal reactions.  It's not really possible to remain entirely aloof when interacting with books, movies, or even music.

I have hated the Twilight saga pretty much since its inception.  I have argued with my family about it, I have made snotty jokes about it, I've read anti-Twilight blogs and websites, I've attended seminars about it.  And yet, I've never read the books.

I kept telling myself that I didn't need to read them because I knew enough about them from reviews and analyses I'd read and excerpts from the books I've come across. I didn't want to dignify the series by reading it myself.  But that's really not a fair thing to do.  My sister is very fond of pointing out how much I hate it when people just hate on something without taking the time to learn about it.  People judge me for being a Democrat and an atheist and I hate that.  It's not fair.  So I decided to put my money where my mouth is and just read the damn things.

But I wasn't going to do it quietly.  I figure if I'm going to read these then I'm going to share my thoughts about them during the process.  Hence this blog.  Now, the chances of my becoming a convert and liking these books in the end is very slim.  I won't say zero because that defeats the purpose of this project.  I am trying to be open-minded and fair.  But I do know that these books are going to push some of my buttons.  Given the experiences I have been through in the past I will react differently to some parts than people who have not been through what I have.  That cannot be avoided.  But my intention with this blog is not to eviscerate the books or merely poke fun at them.

I believe that for better or worse these books are a huge part of our culture.  As such they are worth studying.  I think that's true for many popular entertainments, be it the Star Wars franchise to the Baby-Sitters Club, or the Matrix trilogy.  Books, films, and songs are not created in a vacuum.  To write them off as mere entertainment is a disservice to them.  Much can be learned about a culture or a moment in time from examining popular entertainment. 

Perhaps some people don't wish to take such a deep look at something like Twilight.  They prefer to keep it light and fluffy with sparkly beautiful vampires and nothing more.  This blog is not for those people.  This blog is for people who are interested in the deeper messages of the Twilight saga, or who know me personally and are interested in my take on the books.  It's also for those who may  have not read the books themselves and want to read reviews and reactions that are more than the "omg Edward is so hottt and I want to marry him!!1" variety.  So while my goal at the outset is to blog my way through each of the four books I may from time to time delve into popular reactions (because the Twilight fandom is....interesting, to say the least) and I may review the movies too.  We'll see where this journey leads me.


Welcome aboard.