Discussion: Elly?(sorry this is so long!)

Elly?(sorry this is so long!)

in one of her letters (i think the one in _something about the author_) robin mentions a character named "Elly" - did the story about Elly ever come out; i can't remember reading it...robin was (half jokingly)saying how Elly might be different since she didn't have a "strong" name, like "Harry," for example. But the implication that even a name can make someone vulnerable, or help make them stronger, reminded me that all robin's heroines have a certain combination of strength and vulnerability, which is what makes it easy to identify with as well as admire them. it also reminded me of a conclusion someone drew about robin herself - that she might have been physically abused by her first husband - of course i have no knowledge of robin's personal life apart from what she puts in her letters, but i can see why someone might jump to that conclusion by making assumptions about robin based on her characters - one of my friends was physically abused when she was younger, and has the same mixture of strength and vulnerability that many of robin's heroines have after fighting their battles and surviving. of course i'm not saying robin shares Everything in common with her characters, as she said herself, she's never actually fought a dragon! it's just that as a writer she's pretty convincing at imagining how it would be.

From: cameron lynn
cslynn
Sunday, February 02, 1997 at 13:14:56 (EST)