At 09:04 28/07/97 -0500, you wrote:
>[this got marooned in my out queue on Friday; I hope it's still timely enough]
>Ildney Cavalcanti <ildney.cavalcanti@STRATH.AC.UK> wrote:
>>(as opposed to *one* female hero - or heroine - I still have
>>not chosen which term to use...)
>
>One of the most intriguing ad hoc monologues I've ever heard at a con
>(science ficiton convention) was Gordy Dickson talking about the lack of a
>feminine equivalent of the word "hero". ("Heroine" certainly isn't it!)
>His example of such a character was Pilar in _For Whom the Bell Tolls_.
>
>
>Neil Rest
>
>
Hi, Neil,
Writing about the quest versus the romance plot, DuPlessis makes use of both
terms in different contexts. She uses heroine when she's discussing romance
plots, and female hero for the quest plots. One of the points she argues is
that, in nineteenth-century fictions, narratives featuring women
protagonists could start as a quest plot, but then the female hero had, in
most cases, to be accommodated into the role of a romance heroine by the end
of the story. I agree with her point, but still find the term "female hero"
a bit awkward... Any suggestions? Best,
Ildney
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