“But as I’ve been making my own antihero, I’ve come to the disheartening conclusion that he doesn’t appear to have too many contemporaries, that there is little space for the antihero in literature today. Imagine my surprise, not to mention my professional horror. Antiheroes are dead.”
At the L.A. Times this morning, author David Treur laments the death of the antihero in contemporary literature. He departs from his definition of an antihero, “someone who rejects conventional morality, suffers from indecision, lacks qualities, is weak, epitomizes human frailty” and then asserts that many characters in today’s novels never have to undergo the moral tests or make the big decisions that might compromise their inherent goodness. In short, according to Treur, we have a bunch of good characters who have been dealt their cards in advance and all we can do is hope that fate is merciful to them.
