It depends. Jane Austen, for instance, was horribly classist by today's standards, and if a modern writer put out novels with the same kind of attitude I would find it intrusive and irritating. But I read Jane Austen by the standards of her own time, and by those standards she was fairly enlightened; she certainly didn't hesitate to poke fun at the grosser results of class distinction, even though she upheld the underlying system itself as part of the natural order of things.
I also dislike historical fiction where the writer clearly thinks much the same way as I do, but is trying to put their ideas into the heads of historical characters who just would not have thought that way. That's not to say that there weren't, for example, Romans who thought gladiator shows were revolting; I'm sure there were. But I don't suppose for a minute that you'd get an ancient Roman who wanted to abolish slavery. It was such an accepted part of society - the Roman Empire pretty much ran on it.
So, yes. Really I'm interested in internal consistency. I dislike Heinlein because he was so clearly using his fiction to push his right-wing ideas, and, although it's true that I don't agree with said ideas, the sticking point comes not because of that but because there's a credibility issue about so many of his characters believing them.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-07-31 11:45 am (UTC)I also dislike historical fiction where the writer clearly thinks much the same way as I do, but is trying to put their ideas into the heads of historical characters who just would not have thought that way. That's not to say that there weren't, for example, Romans who thought gladiator shows were revolting; I'm sure there were. But I don't suppose for a minute that you'd get an ancient Roman who wanted to abolish slavery. It was such an accepted part of society - the Roman Empire pretty much ran on it.
So, yes. Really I'm interested in internal consistency. I dislike Heinlein because he was so clearly using his fiction to push his right-wing ideas, and, although it's true that I don't agree with said ideas, the sticking point comes not because of that but because there's a credibility issue about so many of his characters believing them.
If that all maakes reasonable sense.