John Norman

John Norman is the pen name of John Frederick Lange, Jr. (born June 3, 1931), is the author of the Gor series, which was popular in the 1970s (millions of copies sold). He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton and is a professor at the Queens College in New York City.

Books

Science fiction:

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• Chronicles of Gor (also Chronicles of Counter-Earth) (1967-2001)
• The Telnarian Histories (1991-1993)

Historical fiction:

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• Time Slave (1975)
• Ghost Dance (1979)

Nonfiction:

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• Imaginative Sex (1974)

Norman is a protégé of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and his influential Gor series bears parallels to Burroughs' John Carter of Mars. His novels include lengthy philosophical and sociological dissertations contrasting the malaise of modern society (everything from common dishonesty to nuclear holocaust) with the remedial beauty of natural society. Placing emphasis on living in accordance with a Nietzsche-esque natural order, he sponsors a hierarchy of talent.

Related Topics:
Edgar Rice Burroughs - Gor - John Carter of Mars - Sociological - Nuclear holocaust - Natural - Nietzsche-esque natural order

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From this hierarchy and his use of evolutionary psychology to analyze gender differences, he then suggests that woman is the submissive natural helper, and figurative slave, of dominant man. His work often, but not always, takes this observation literally: heroes enslave heroines who, upon being enslaved, revel in the discovery of their natural place. Norman and Goreans have been criticized for this tenet of what they consider honoring nature.

Related Topics:
Evolutionary psychology - Gender differences - Woman - Submissive - Slave - Dominant - Man - Goreans

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