The Fox Woman by Kij Johnson
My rating: 3/5 cats
so this is a story about a fox who falls in love with a married human man, and in order to get his attention, she uses secret ancient fox magic and she and her family become human, or illusions of humans, and trick the man into falling in love with her and believing that their illusory world is real, as he lives and eats and mates with them and time stands still for a little while.
the setting is ancient japan, and the story is full of details of the expected behavior of men and women in civilized, noble, japan,(read: “restrained”) which contrasts sharply with the wild world of the fox, who have no formal standards of “proper” behavior.
it is fine, but not super-fine.
and my lack of ardor has nothing to do with the triple taboo of having incest, bestiality, and gay human sex all in one volume!! but really, save something for the sequel, honey!
i have no problem with mixing species when it comes to the physical act of love. whether it be woman and bear or man and troll or man and angel or man and gourd – but i just don’t buy this love. “love at first sight may sound trite but it’s true, you know.” maybe somewhere, but not so much here. i believe in love, i just don’t believe in this fox’s love for this man upon first sight. what is it in a human physiognomy that is attractive to a fox?? the other way ’round, i can understand (please do not put me on any watch lists – i am not having sex with animals) but i can understand the desire to be/be with a wild animal more than i can understand a fox’s desire to wear clothes and shoes and spend all day in quiet contemplation, waiting for the man to come to her for the sweaty intercourse.
because the female life in feudal (is this feudal? – i am unsure of time periods in the olde east) japan is totally dull. everything is formal and correct and polite and distant and smacks of ritual. i don’t see a fox sitting still for long enough to want in on this world, where every emotion seems to be a burden:
Tranquility is best, of course. One strives in one’s life for calm acceptance of circumstance, whether good or bad. Happiness is the pleasantest of emotions; because of this, it is also the most dangerous. Having once felt happiness, one will do anything to maintain it, and losing it, one will grieve. Regret and sadness. One grieves for the dead, but also for friends forgotten, and things lost or mislaid. I lost a writing desk long ago; even now, I remember it on occasion and feel a pang of regret. Anger is never acceptable. It is a sort of madness pulled from one’s soul by the cruelty or carelessness of others.
jeez louise – what fox is gonna choose to live like that? me, i prefer my propriety undercut with a little merteuil.
and i could see a fox wanting to live her life – full of sly manipulation and power struggles, not the complete submission and sublimation of this poor wife. plus, better wardrobes.
the juxtaposition of the civilized and the wild is painfully obvious, but gets emphasized to death in scenes like this:
Fleas (and their equivalents, all the tiny harassments of life) are everywhere in this world, an unpleasant reminder that life is not as perfect as we would prefer. But I was travelling to attend the princess; such a reminder at such a time was unwelcome. Onaga saw my distress, and using a soft paper that had been tucked in her sleeve, she crushed the tiny animal and dropped it through the window-grille.
some of the details of the ritual of communication, i found quite lovely, where married couples exchange poetry, in which even the paper color choice and its texture have an understood meaning. but overall, i found the pacing too deliberate for me, and the details too precious.
i am a wild fox and i need to run free.
