Oh, I've read "Two College Friends" too! I found it a while ago on Gutenberg, in the "male friendship" category! XD I mostly remember the dramatic, honourable, tragic war bits, and one of the characters calling his friend "darling" (and the het romance at the end, but we can just ignore that, right?)
in what I, still working on the Imre ebook, might call the Edward Prime-Stevenson sense
He's his own category, isn't he? <3 Both the implicit queerness and the happy endings are very refreshing, especially when compared to books like this one, full of subtext and tragic endings--not that they aren't enjoyable in their own way, of course, they are good inspiration for fix-it fic! XD But there are so many of them, and so few happy ones, it seems...
And yeah, "Precious bane" is a bit melodramatic and OTT, and I guess the romance is a bit dated. There was a scene I didn't like, around the time where they first meet, and actually my favourite thing about it is when they send letters to other people that are actually veiled letters to each other. But I guess I'm very contrary, and will root for a het romance when the rest of the world doesn't XD I might have cared less about it if Prue hadn't been disabled, or if she had been forced into romance (which is sometihng that happens to another one of Mary Webb's characters).
If Prue had stayed alone at the end, it would have also made sense, because she had lived alone all her life and managed pretty well and didn't need anyone. But she is definitely not a helpless heroine, and she clearly wants romance for herself, so it works for me! And I liked the parallel between her saving Kester and him saving her at the end, it makes me think that they are on equal terms. And also they have a similar kindness, that makes me feel that they are right for each other.
I guess that the book's message would have worked even better in a less melodramatic story. One of the ugliest parts of ableism is people hearing over and over that they can't have something until they believe it themselves, so it's still good and vindicating to see someone (even if it's a fictional character) getting *exactly* what the world says they can't have.
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He's his own category, isn't he? <3 Both the implicit queerness and the happy endings are very refreshing, especially when compared to books like this one, full of subtext and tragic endings--not that they aren't enjoyable in their own way, of course, they are good inspiration for fix-it fic! XD But there are so many of them, and so few happy ones, it seems...
And yeah, "Precious bane" is a bit melodramatic and OTT, and I guess the romance is a bit dated. There was a scene I didn't like, around the time where they first meet, and actually my favourite thing about it is when they send letters to other people that are actually veiled letters to each other. But I guess I'm very contrary, and will root for a het romance when the rest of the world doesn't XD I might have cared less about it if Prue hadn't been disabled, or if she had been forced into romance (which is sometihng that happens to another one of Mary Webb's characters).
If Prue had stayed alone at the end, it would have also made sense, because she had lived alone all her life and managed pretty well and didn't need anyone. But she is definitely not a helpless heroine, and she clearly wants romance for herself, so it works for me! And I liked the parallel between her saving Kester and him saving her at the end, it makes me think that they are on equal terms. And also they have a similar kindness, that makes me feel that they are right for each other.
I guess that the book's message would have worked even better in a less melodramatic story. One of the ugliest parts of ableism is people hearing over and over that they can't have something until they believe it themselves, so it's still good and vindicating to see someone (even if it's a fictional character) getting *exactly* what the world says they can't have.