My favorite "hero" would be the anonymous voice of "My Happy Life" by Lydia Miller.
Antihero would be Humbert Humbert from Lolita.
My favorite hero in literature is Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's sardonic, wisecracking private eye. He makes me want to be like him. Other favorite heroes include Prince Mishkin in Dostoevsky's THE IDIOT, Diderot's Jacques The Fatalist, Pip in Dickens' GREAT EXPECTATIONS, the narrator Marcel in Proust's novel, and Felix Krull in Thomas Mann's THE CONFESSIONS OF FELIX KRULL. Antiheroes abound in modern literature. For the benefit of those who have posted about "Kirosawa", cavfancier at al, there is no such director. The correct spelling of his name is KUROSAWA. I don't understand how you can rave about the man's movies (which are, indeed, wonderful) and get his name wrong!!!
dròm_et_rêve wrote: I wonder why, as humans, we seem more interested in anti-heroes. Raskolinov is far more interesting than his victims, or his mother, or the people he meets. Iago is far more interesting than Desdemona in Othello. And, upon second read, I have known many people to whom I recommended Dangerous Liaisons to skip the letters written by virtuous Tourvel or innocent Cécile, only to devour the plots and corruption of the two anti-heroes, Merteuil and Valmont.
I love reading all the above, especially the latter. I love reading the antics of Pechorin in Lermontov's 'A hero of our time,' too; the form that that novel takes startles me.
drom,
How refreshing to encounter another fan of "A hero of Our Time", Lermontov's classic. The setting was Chechnya, and the tale involved a story, within a story, within a story. And the latter with Pechorin was, in my view, the model for Camu's "The Stranger", written a century later.
I put this in the best book ever thread previously, but the best antihero is Sario from The Golden Key, or Mordred. Not sure about a hero though.
I always thought John Buchan's Richard Hannay was an impressive (if a little bigoted in retrospect) hero working on the fringes for the British Empirical cause.
Along the same lines but far more innocent was Kipling's wonderful Kim, the English schoolboy raised in India working for the secret service.
I was a huge Michael Moorcock fan as a teenager and my favorite of his brilliant Eternal Champions was Corum, the prince in the scarlet robe.
I also wanted to be Tintin for a good while there, which seems mighty strange now I look back on it.
Matt Murdock was a favorite in the comic world, as was Hellboy. Both have paled since they went to celluloid. Aragorn of course, and any of the Ithilien Rangers.
I was a big fan of Luke Skywalker as a boy, as Star Wars was the second ever movie I saw, at the drive-in. We didn't have a TV until I was 9 and Star wars just blew me away.
Julian Sorel from Stendahl's The Red and the Black has always been a favorite of mine.
Snake Plissken
Snake Plissken from "Escape in NY".. No more discussion, he's
the perfect Anti-hero in my opinion-..
Has anyone seen Julie Taymor's film of Titus Androcus? Really interesting.
I love MacBeth because that play brought me into Medieval studies. My favorite Hamlet was performed by the graduate students in acting at Wayne State in the early 1970s. My favorite Richard III is a toss up between Ian MacKenzie (is that his last name: Gandalf in LOTR) and the kids from the Harvard-Radcliffe Drama Society directed by Tina Packer of Shakespeare and Company.
My favorite hero is probably Strider from the Tolkein trilogy.
Captain Ahab is a great anti-hero. Compelling as all get out and driven to his own destruction and that of everyone under his command!
drom -- We love anti-heroes just as "ladies love outlaws."
