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The Judging Eye / Dunyain: nature vs. nurture
« on: March 12, 2014, 06:38:37 pm »
I'm not sure if this has already been asked and answered elsewhere, and if so I apologize.
One thing I found a bit odd after starting on the Aspect Emperor series, and which has continued to bemuse me on my recent re-read of the PoN series, is the apparent (to me at least) dichotomy of the Dunyain as those who seem to be primarily molded through Nurture (which I would say is the main gist of things in the PoN series) vs. seeing them as primarily shaped by Nature (as is made explicitly the case in the Aspect Emperor series).
I at least saw the Dunyain presented in the first series as primarily the product of their harsh lifestyle and training: their insights were the result of their philosophical vigor and scientific analysis of the people and environment of the world around them. Much is made of Kellhus' training sessions in the refuge, for example, as being the primary foundation for his abilities, esp. his ability to 'read' people and intuit their desires and actions from what he sees in their faces.
The second series, on the other hand, seems to make much more of the genes that make a Dunyain what they are (esp. a 'true' Dunyain like Kellhus) and how these are not only largely incompatible with 'normal' humans, but that they lie at the heart of nearly all of Kellhus' abilities (which his half-Dunyain children have mostly only partially received). I know it is stated that Kellhus did train his children as well, but given that it apparently takes nearly the entire childhood of a normal Dunyain to train them into a fully mature Dunyain and given the fact that Kellhus hardly had this kind of time for the training of his children it does imply to me that the impressive abilities they do have seem to be largely attributable to their genetic heritage which just seems to belie the need for rigiorous, monomaniacal training as it was presented in the PoN series.
I know both Nature and Nurture are needed/important to making the Dunyain what they are, but it just feels to me as if Bakker made a significant shift from implying the latter was the key element in the first series, to the former in the new series.
Thoughts?
One thing I found a bit odd after starting on the Aspect Emperor series, and which has continued to bemuse me on my recent re-read of the PoN series, is the apparent (to me at least) dichotomy of the Dunyain as those who seem to be primarily molded through Nurture (which I would say is the main gist of things in the PoN series) vs. seeing them as primarily shaped by Nature (as is made explicitly the case in the Aspect Emperor series).
I at least saw the Dunyain presented in the first series as primarily the product of their harsh lifestyle and training: their insights were the result of their philosophical vigor and scientific analysis of the people and environment of the world around them. Much is made of Kellhus' training sessions in the refuge, for example, as being the primary foundation for his abilities, esp. his ability to 'read' people and intuit their desires and actions from what he sees in their faces.
The second series, on the other hand, seems to make much more of the genes that make a Dunyain what they are (esp. a 'true' Dunyain like Kellhus) and how these are not only largely incompatible with 'normal' humans, but that they lie at the heart of nearly all of Kellhus' abilities (which his half-Dunyain children have mostly only partially received). I know it is stated that Kellhus did train his children as well, but given that it apparently takes nearly the entire childhood of a normal Dunyain to train them into a fully mature Dunyain and given the fact that Kellhus hardly had this kind of time for the training of his children it does imply to me that the impressive abilities they do have seem to be largely attributable to their genetic heritage which just seems to belie the need for rigiorous, monomaniacal training as it was presented in the PoN series.
I know both Nature and Nurture are needed/important to making the Dunyain what they are, but it just feels to me as if Bakker made a significant shift from implying the latter was the key element in the first series, to the former in the new series.
Thoughts?
