{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4778",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
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  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 4778,
    "subject": "Why Wolfe's Protagonists are Supermen",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "2006-12-01T17:31:45+00:00",
    "last": "2006-12-01T17:31:45+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<d716a1c40612010931u1f9ffaafqde47e04fa5c584b2@mail.gmail.com>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Michael Straight",
        "address": "mfstraight at gmail.com"
      },
      "date": "2006-12-01T17:31:45+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Why Wolfe's Protagonists are Supermen",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Re-reading Soldier of Arete, I came across a passage that I think\nsheds light not only on Latro but also Able and some of Wolfe's other\ncharacters.\n\nPolos is shocked to see Latro cry, and is told, \"You admire strength\nbecause you are not strong, and that's fine.  But Latro is strong; for\nhim to admire strength would make him a monster.\"\n\nIn most adventure novels, the hero faces opponents who are stronger\nthan he, and he struggles to become strong enough to defeat them.  But\nWolfe's heroes often face opponents who are weaker than they are,\ncreating a very different set of conflicts.\n\nI can think of many worthwhile reasons Wolfe might want to explore\nsuch characters:  How might we live if we were not afraid?   Or if we\ndid not admire strength?   How might we treat others if we felt no\nneed to struggle to be stronger than they are?  How ought a rich\ncountry, with the most powerful military in the world, behave if\nattacked or threatened by a weaker neighbor?\n\nOf course, there's also the fun of writing a hero who, when challenged\nto a duel and warned that no quarter may be given, replies, \"I'm not\nsure I can kill a man who is begging for his life, but I'll try.\"\n\nRostrum"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}