''Heroes and Villains'' is a

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

post-apocalyptic novel Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astr ...

Angela Carter Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...

Synopsis

In a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...

world, Marianne inhabits an enclave of relative civilisation as the daughter of one of the "Professors", academic survivors of the unnamed global disaster, whose enclave is guarded by a soldier caste. At the beginning of the novel, Marianne has lost her brother and mother, and only her father survives. However, she has become tired of the sedentary lifestyle and runs away from the enclave to join Jewel, an articulate and intelligent leader of a barbarian tribe, but then becomes concerned at her chattel status in a society that has rigid patriarchal concepts of what constitutes appropriate gender roles. Marianne becomes pregnant after Jewel sexually assaults her but she then sexually assaults an intellectually disabled male tribal member. Ultimately Jewel dies, and Marianne plans to become tribal leader.

Reception

Writing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Richard Boston found ''Heroes and Villains'' to be "a strange, compelling book. . . . a fable that discusses the roles of reason and imagination in a civilized society." He reported it to be "an undoubted success," saying "Carter tells her story with considerable skill. Her observation is sharp, and she writes extremely well."

Theodore Sturgeon Theodore Sturgeon (; born Edward Hamilton Waldo, February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American fiction author of primarily fantasy, science fiction and horror, as well as a critic. He wrote approximately 400 reviews and more than 120 sh ...

reviewed the novel favourably, praising Carter's "vivid colour, her familiarity with her scene, the unexpectedness of her characters and plot development.""Galaxy Bookshelf", ''

Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...

'', December 1973, p.69

References

1969 British novels 1969 science fiction novels Novels by Angela Carter British science fiction novels Post-apocalyptic novels Heinemann (publisher) books {{1960s-sf-novel-stub