lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (01/31/85)
The "Gor" books comprise something of a paradox. They sell fantastically well. They virtually support DAW and allow it to take chances on new and unknown authors. John "Norman" (actually, John Lange) has apparently made a mint from the series, and he continues to crank them out at a furious pace. How he manages this, while continuing in his role as a Professor of Philosophy at a certain NYC area college is pretty obvious when you look at the atrocious nature of his writings. Not just poorly written, but inherently BORING as well. In all fairness, I read the first three in the series, and the first one wasn't too bad. Number two showed signs of decay. Number three was awful. From what I've been told (and what I've seen when glancing at the others in bookstores) they have continued the downward trend to an amazing degree. Now, apart from the horrible quality of the books, we are faced with a different question. Do the writings really *say* anything about men or women? I can only speak from the male side of course, but over the years the subject of the Gor books has come up from time to time and it's interesting what people say. You can get particular insight into Lange's views from reading his "Imaginative Sex" book (usually sold in the same areas as his Gor books) which is a non-fiction "sex manual." Someone I know was given this book as a gag gift by his girlfriend, and I scanned it quickly when he told me that I'd find it amusing. Lange's essential philosophy is that the "natural" state of being is with females as slaves. He often says that all women fantasize about being the slave of a man. He adds, however, that a critical part of the fantasy is that they themselves, and nobody else, choose the man to whom they'd be slave. Rot? Well, sure, generally. Especially in the contexts that he puts things. However, this isn't to say that there aren't *some* people who fit his theory, probably far more than one might imagine. Every so often I've come across women who are big fans of the Gor novels. They usually seem normal in every way. The key word is FANTASY. What people fantasize usually has very little impact on how they live their lives. In some cases, you find people who occasionally live out some of their fantasies in the privacy of their bedrooms, and I can't help but view that as an essentially healthy attitude. Who cares about what people fantasize if it doesn't affect their public behavior in negative ways? Trying to suppress such fantasies completely (i.e. don't think about them) would probably be the worst thing people could do. If a certain segment of the population gets some enjoyment out of the Gor books, however badly they're written, it doesn't represent any danger. It's too bad they aren't reading something with some literary quality, but at least they're reading. And, when you come right down to it, most of us have some kinks in our personality, however well camouflaged. So perhaps we should be careful before being too critical about such topics.... --Lauren--
donn@utah-gr.UUCP (Donn Seeley) (02/08/85)
As long as we're re-hashing 'Gor' for the umpteenth time, could someone provide a plot precis for the parody 'Housewives of Gor'? For some reason I missed this in the previous incarnations of this discussion... Thanks. To make this posting more worthwhile for people bored by male sadism and female masochism, here's a little game... I have two copies of Avram Davidson's MUTINY IN SPACE, one printed in 1964 (price: 50 cents, a miracle like unto the legendary cup of coffee) and one printed in 1974 (95 cents... what is this nation coming to?). Davidson clearly had little control over the book; the title was changed from VALENTINE'S PLANET, and the blurbs are amazingly unrepresentative of the contents. You may be amused to observe the manner in which the later blurb improves on the earlier one: 1964 'Pirates of the spaceways -- and a planet ripe for plunder' 'MAROONED on an unknown planet, the PERSEPHONE's officers moved warily through the forest. They had escaped the mutineers, but they knew there was danger ahead ... but what was it? The answer came in a howl of fury and a charge by grotesque armed figures -- an army of death-dealing women!' 1974 'A SCIENCE FICTION BLOCKBUSTER! Castaways of the universe -- marooned on a lost planet of war-crazed females!' 'Rond and his crew had been left to die slowly on an unknown planet. As they moved warily through the alien forest they heard the eerie rhythms coming toward them. Then they saw the grotesque figures[:] A BIZARRE ARMY OF SCREAMING WOMEN! Masked, brandishing gleaming swords [um...], rattling their terrible death drums, howling with the fury of some primitive blood lust -- and they were attacking! As the scarlet waves of growling women approached, Rond and his men began to run -- back into the dark forest of looming horror...' Needless to say this scene has a somewhat different emphasis in the book. (The story is basically a re-telling of the Conquistadores vs. the Indians, with a few variations, such as making the 'Indian' side be a Japanese-style samurai culture run by women. Not Davidson's best effort by any means...) Do other folks have 'Kilgore Trout'-type blurbs they'd care to share? Donn Seeley University of Utah CS Dept donn@utah-cs.arpa 40 46' 6"N 111 50' 34"W (801) 581-5668 decvax!utah-cs!donn