Gender and Society in The Shattered Chain
As the first book in a series of three following the Renunciates in great detail, The Shattered Chain presents Renunciate characters in greater detail than other books in the series, developing characters such as the Renunciate love interest of Jason Allison in The Planet Savers from caricature to complex experiments in separatist feminism. The Renunciates are one of the most popular character groups in the Darkover series, attracting vast quantities of fan fiction and also fan group activities, such as the founding of Renunciate Guildhouses in the real world.
The Shattered Chain is perhaps most interesting as a distinct deviation from the male-dominated narratives of Bradley's previous Darkovan novels, and also as an experiment in feminist writing for an author who had previously written very conventionally male-dominated fiction. Later novels in the Renunciate series, especially Thendara House explores issues of female sexuality and matriarchal social structures, with particular emphasis on the character Magda's developing sense of herself as a lesbian, and as an independent woman raised to be a 'traditional Darkovan woman' and yet living a liberated, autonomous life beyond the rule of fathers and husbands. These novels could be read as a Bradley's exploration of her own sexuality and relationships with the men and women in her life, a point given credence by her own real-life arguments that Darkover served as her most personal and most treasured world, where she explored ideas and fantasies. This is not to suggest that Bradley was a lesbian, but more that the Renunciate characters of Magda and Jaelle offered the author an opportunity to explore the world of women-centred communities within a patriarchal context, and that lesbianism was a part of this. It may be more useful to point out that the Renunciate stories are more stories of loyalty between women, and of the development of woman-centred community than of homosexuality.
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