[HPforGrownups] A pet peeve about Sirius-like men in literature (was: Should Harry Potter die?)

[Peg Kerr]

No: HPFGUIDX 2209



Dave Hardenbrook wrote:

>
> Not to diverge from the current discussion but...
>
> At the risk of sounding like a male chauvinist pig, has anyone else
> noticed how often woman authors take their most sexual male character
> and put them through just as much hell as they can devise?  Charlotte Bronte
> did it with Rochester (_Jane Eyre_), Louisa May Alcott with Dan (_Jo's Boys_),
> and now JKR with Sirius.
>

Ahem.  Actually, the writer I can think of who does this the MOST is a man, Tim Powers.  Ever read _Dinner at Deviant's Palace_, or _Last Call_, or _Anubis Gates_ or _Stress of Her Regard_?  I
used to tease him about doing character development by dismemberment.  A fine writer, but hoo boy, I sure wouldn't want to be one of his male protagonists.  They arrive at the end of the books
much better people.  But along with their friends, their innocence, and their illusions, they've usually lost an eye or several fingers or their lower jaw or something else along the way.

Peg