>Which is a bit of a pity, IMHO. I mean even *Asimov* (which is one of the
>closest US SF authors I can think of to the LGH style) had a little sex in a
>few of his novels. I mean Reinhard especially seems to have so little joy in
>his life most of the time, what could it hurt? ^_-
>> What, did they make this up for the Chinese version ?
>Well you know those lusty Chinese... ^_-
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I am not sure he enjoyed it. Just a moment ago Reinhardt was so depressed
and Hildegrad so worried sick about him that one wonders how in the next
moment he could be in the mood to even consider sex. Worse of all,
Reinhardt felt very ashamed of himself afterwards for having violated Hildegrad.
Whether Reinhardt could otherwise find joy in sex is left to your
imagination. Anyhow, the author has made it very clear that both Reinhardt
and Hildegrad cared very little for sex. Reinhardt was reported to have
cordially turned every beautiful lady whom his attendants arranged to wait
on him out of his bedroom. As for Hildegrad, at the age of 17 her lack of
interest in "those dumb young men" of comparable age was already noted by
the Baroness Magdelena von Westphale. Both seemed to be very inexperienced
in sex (or perhaps had zero experience) for they behaved so strangely "after
the act" that Hildegrad's father, at learning the news, was led to puzzle
how they had managed it.
I have always suspected that the author put this couple to bed just to
produce an heir to the throne. Any detailed description of the act is thus
rendered unnecessary. As one would reasonably expect, no "porn scene"
featuring this couple is to be found in the Chinese edition of the novel,
and probably not in the original Japanese edition either.
The author was probably not prepared to go into any detail about sex. Had
he ever spared a thought for this, the story could be full of sex scenes
involving playboys such as Reuenthal, Poplan and Schenkopf or even this
paragon of male virtue Mittermeier who was happily married from the start.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Xerxes J.
xerxes@hkstar.com