The story 'Travesty' delves into the romantic relationship between Prima, a philosophy undergrad, and her professor Heiss. It portrays the dynamic tensions arising from their relationship against the backdrop of evolving societal norms regarding professor-student interactions. Through Prima's inner conflict prompted by a peer's assumption about being part of a pattern, the narrative examines themes of autonomy, love, and the societal implications of power dynamics. It raises questions about the nature of affection and the perceptions of manipulation, suggesting an intricate interplay of personal experience and communal judgment.
The ideologically intense university environment is a sort of petri dish for this question.
What offends Prima is Ruth's certainty that everyone who is part of Heiss's pattern will feel abused by it.
I always imagined that it would be simultaneously exciting and disturbing to be in a relationship that so much of your community imagines is, by its very nature, manipulative or abusive.
In recent years I've noticed that there's a conflation, sometimes, of the desire to protect women from bad actors and the feeling that it's humiliating for a woman to realize that she was one in a series.
Collection
[
|
...
]