I’m pretty sure everyone has guilty pleasures. Sometimes we enjoy a thing out of all proportion to its actual quality. Sometimes a thing of otherwise high quality includes questionable elements. One of my guilty pleasures is the science fiction classic series Lensman. I think it’s a genuinely great work, despite certain quality issues and regressive politics, but those unfortunate things are part of the text, and distinguishing them is useful as a reader.
Anyway, inspired by Ana Mardoll’s epic deconstructions of the Narnia and Xanth series, I’ve decided to try a close read of the Lensman books. I don’t have a particular goal in mind, except to spend some time getting to know an old favorite better, and see what I can discover, whether delightful or distressing. If my thoughts can entertain, intrigue, or spark discourse among others, that would be icing.
