Comments on: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger: Alpha Heroes as Nietzschean Supermen

By: Tumperkin

Tumperkin — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:41:04 +0000

I agree with Sarah that in romance there is often one missing jigsaw piece in the hero that he needs to the heroine to complete and in this sense, I don’t think this is a particularly prevalent type despite the many common characteristics.

In fact, it strikes me that the type you mention is very much a man’s man, a James Bond figure for example.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:17:36 +0000

I think you are onto something — maybe there’s a duality. An outward appearance or initial posture of being isolated and self-reverential, which gives way as the romance progresses.

By: carolyn jean

carolyn jean — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:28:18 +0000

Heloise, I think you are right on, especially with historicals, not that I know them that much, but on first encounters from the heroine’s POV, (I’m thinking about Nick Gentry or even Dane from LOS) the hero is that stronger man. But the reader knows different. Maybe that is some of the tension, wanting the heroine to see the wound. It’s the same with paranormals like BDB: the reader sees the hero’s need and lack, but all the heroine sees is the strength and steeliness and lack of need. And often vice versa. And part of the fun, often part of the plot device is that recognition. I feel like I just restated a lot of obvious stuff. But it’s newly interesting in light of this “Stronger Man” concept.

By: Heloise

Heloise — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:19:18 +0000

Okay, less tentatively. What interests me about this question/topic is that I agree with the overall premise that a successful romance hero needs to feel a lack in his own character/life so that the romance heroine can complete/fulfill that lack.

BUT, typically (maybe I should use traditionally) in historicals the first encounter of the heroine with the hero doesn’t involve her observing this lack. In other words what often draws the heroine to the hero is not his clear need to be completed but his innate power/confidence/self possession among a field of lesser men. Very in keeping with said ubermensch.

Hmm, what we find attractive from across the room is not enough to create a satisfying emotional journey for 300 pages? I guess that’s not rocket science.

By: carolyn jean

carolyn jean — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:49:37 +0000

What an excellent post! Yeah, I think part of the problem with identifying romance heroes that fit this bill is a lot of what Laura said. In a way, you get a lot of the women healing or saving the men, and couples completing each other. But I think Roarke is an excellent choice, judging from the little I’ve read of that series, and I have always thought that, too, by the way, about his origins in the Fountainhead.

Eric may be a good choice, too. OOOOOH! I can’t wait for you to read further!!

Also, Laurel K. Hamilton’s vampire character Jean Claude is something like this, especially across the first 7 books. Oh! As well as her killer buddy, yikes, I can’t remember his name. However, he is not a romantic hero. Jean Claude is.

By: Janine

Janine — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:43:04 +0000

Because you have the cover of Kinsale’s Seize the Fire up in the sidebar, I can’t help but think of Sheridan and how he’s the antithesis of most of these traits (with the exception of solitary — all of Kinsale’s heroes are solitary). He is a fascinating hero, or more accurately, anti-hero, nonetheless — or perhaps even because he does not conform to these traits.

How is your reading of the book coming? I’m dying to know your opinion of it.

By: Kate

Kate — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:10:55 +0000

I haven’t read the Sookie Stackhouse novels, so no comment on that, but Heloise, I think you may be on to it – J.T.? Or was that the guy from the second Crusie/Mayer book? (…shuffling through old reviews) – yup, JT in Don’t Look Down, and maybe Shane in Agnes and the Hitman as well.

Also interesting that the only ones we’ve come up with are written by men. Hm.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:45:01 +0000

Laura — Thanks for tracking down that quote. It’s amazing how many people who have meditated on the genders have shared that sentiment.

JenB — Leave it to Wikipedia to have an entry discussing the higher men in pop culture! Thanks for the link. I agree that Hemingway heroes, maybe Hemingway himself, shares several of these qualities.

Kate — Yes, the self-reverential part is tough. I have been so busy this week I haven’t had the space to even try to think of a self-reverential hero, although I guess if we are saying that by definition a romance hero cannot be self-reverential, then I will never be able to find one!

–Actually, I think Eric Northman of the Sookie Stckhouse vampire mysteries, may qualify, based on my reading of the 1st three books only, but he is not, at this point at least, romance hero material, further supporting the point Sarah, Laura, Kate and the rest of you have been making.

I haven’t read the Dark Towers or much of any Stephen King since high school. I have no idea why.

Heloise — please don’t be tentative. Unfortunately, my lack of reading is shining through as I admit to yet another book, the Crusie and Mayer, that I have not read.

By: Heloise

Heloise — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:09:18 +0000

*raises hand tentatively*

Uh, maybe Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer’s Don’t Look Down hero (what was his name?).

Interesting that I picked one that’s written by a man…

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:19:57 +0000

I think Sarah makes an excellent point with the lack of self-reverential romance heroes and reasons thereof, especially in terms of the sweeping historical types of romances. I wonder if they may not be more possible in contemporaries?

I do think in the unique v. solitary discussion that solitary doesn’t have to mean an island of themselves, and that’s possible in many – heck, lots of romance heroes. Man/woman does not have to be *alone* to be *solitary*, which is how I think of the solitary man/woman.

But again that self-reverential part is such a blocker in my head when trying to imagine the romance novel “higher men,” bearing in mind I’m particular in my choices and don’t read a wide spread of romances. Would it be possible to see the higher man hero in some of the fantasy/urban fantasy novels?

Roland from the Dark Tower series/Stephen King comes to mind, but I’ve only read the first in the series so don’t hold me to it