I want to fire up my Andre Norton blog once again. This article on Tor reminded me of how much I enjoyed her work and what a big part of my childhood she was.
Heinlein's Juveniles vs. Andre Norton's Young Adult Novels
by James Davis Nicoll.
James Davis Nicoll also done a series of reviews of Norton's work.
50 Nortons in 50 Weeks
"Early Norton novels featured male protagonists and male major characters. Women were often missing, or if present, confined to extremely minor roles. One might think that human reproduction was carried out by budding. But Norton was writing what publishers wanted; she knew that there was a dearth of significant women in SFF. She wrote in 1971’s “On Writing Fantasy”:
https://www.tor.com/2019/07/11/heinlein-juveniles-vs-andre-norton-young-adult-novels/These are the heroes, but what of the heroines? In the Conan tales there are generally beautiful slave girls, one pirate queen, one woman mercenary. Conan lusts, not loves, in the romantic sense, and moves on without remembering face or person. This is the pattern followed by the majority of the wandering heroes. Witches exist, as do queens (always in need of having their lost thrones regained or shored up by the hero), and a few come alive. As do de Camp’s women, the thief-heroine of Wizard of Storm, the young girl in the Garner books, the Sorceress of The Island of the Mighty. But still they remain props of the hero."
James Davis Nicoll also done a series of reviews of Norton's work.
50 Nortons in 50 Weeks
I will be reading James reviews here as part of my relaunch.
Judith Tarr’s is also carrying out the Andre Norton Reread on Tor.com which can be found here.
Glad you are back!
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