miker wrote:
> i'm not wore out on this hero discussion yet. i had
kind
> of implied that until hardboiled came along, the
hero was
> all noble and pure and not a bad guy at all. and
rene,
> you were right on target when you mentioned that
this wasn't
> right, and used the odyssey and illiad as
examples.
>
> so i started thinking about when, if ever, the hero
ideal
> turned into a true dudley dooright. i know you
mentioned
> christianity, but the heroes of the bible, if any,
sure
> weren't model citizens. the farthest back i can put
a
> finger on this kind of hero ideal is the concept of
chiv-
> alry, which evolved during the medieval period, but
because
> of a breakdown in author/publisher negotiations,
didn't
> show up in literature until the 14th (_sir gawain
and the
> green knight_) and 15th (_le morte d'arthur_)
centuries.
Actually, that's the kind of stuff I had in mind rather than
Biblical stuff. (I suspect you're thinking Old Testament
rather than New, which would technically be pre-Christian.)
So when I said Christian, let's be more specific & say
Medieval European, particularly the literature of Chivalry.
In fact, the more I think about it the more I'm sure that's
where our modern concept of heroism comes from, which should
bring us up to Chandler and a man who walks the mean streets
but is not afraid, etc. Marlowe was nearly named Mallory, in
honour of the author of LE MORTE D'ARTHUR, which I think
may've been mentioned here before.
>
> darn, i'm starting to feel like a scholar. pass me
another
> one of those longneck fosters, would ya,
rene.
>
Sounds good to me. Maybe we could watch some Three Stooges
vid's as well, get this kulcher stuff out of our
systems.
Rene
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