message 0041

• Gender roles in C.J. Cherryh's writing; incl. Azi and aliens (huge thread!)

>Date: Mon, 30 Nov 92 22:27 PST
>Subject: cherryhlist:Male Protagonists
>From: Nick_Janow@mindlink.bc.ca (Nick Janow)

Lesley writes:

> I'd like to ask people what they feel about Cherryh's portrayal of her male
> characters. So many men  on the net seem to feel she gives men a bum deal,
> making them have emotions and all.

I don't have a problem with the male characters.  Her male protagonists do
tend to be somewhat less that the sturdy "steely-eyed, square-jawed" male
protagonists of other writers' works, but the universe is full of men who
don't fit that obviously heroic stereotype.

It might be easier and more fun to identify with (ie. daydream about being)
the hero for whom everything always goes right (even torture and injuries
don't slow him down or muss his hair), but if that was all I wanted, I could
read hero comics.  Oops, I mean: graphic novels".  :)

There are times when I'm in the mood for that "easy" reading: a SF novel with
a simple plot, a simple hero, and a happy ending.  There are other times when
I won't be satisfied with that.  At such times, I'm more in the mood for
"Downbelow Station", or even "40000 in Gehenna".  When I'm in that sort of
mood, I do enjoy the male protagonists, with all their psychological problems
and inadequacies--and their hidden strengths.

> How do you think she succeeds with more mature, 'conventional' male
> characters (Conrad Mazian, Giraud Nye, Lt. Graff, Morris Bird, Angelo
> Konstantin, Edmund Porey, Tom Edgars, Maj. Janz, Yanni
> Schwartz, etc, etc) And if I can name all those 'conventional' male
> characters off the top of my head, how come "all" of Cherryh's men are
> criticised for being 'unrealistic' due to being unconventional?

Maybe she's not interested in writing "yet another heroic-male SF novel".
Should every writer ignore male protagonists who aren't Hollywood hero
material?  I think it's great that some writers are writing about characters
who differ from the mainstream protagonists.

The above list of male characters shows that Cherryh does acknowledge their
existence in the universe.  She just doesn't focus on them.  That's okay,
since there are enough other SF writers who do focus on them.  :)

--

Nick_Janow@mindlink.bc.ca