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From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: "Gor"
Message-ID: <534@vortex.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 31-Jan-85 05:22:44 EST
Article-I.D.: vortex.534
Posted: Thu Jan 31 05:22:44 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 9-Feb-85 08:14:56 EST
Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles
Lines: 60

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--