Captive of Gor

It seems to be a popular opinion that the Gor series went off the rails with this volume. As is almost always the case, popular opinion is dead wrong. Stylistically, Norman becomes more compact and more repetitious beginning here, but in fact it only reads even better and faster than his previous work. While Norman's prose is surely not at the extremely high literary level of an Eddison or Dunsany, he is, after all, a professor of philosophy, and writes far better than 90 percent of genre writers. Speaking of philosophy: there are no "lectures" in this book. Norman's philosophy, which is best described as Nietzschean or even Eddisonian (I again refer to E.R. Eddison, for those not familiar with the great pioneer of this genre), is expressed, by its very nature, in action and deeds of derring-do, not in dry speechifying. And there is plenty of that action here, as in the previous volumes in the Gorean canon. The use of a female protagonist keeps the series fresh; it does not diminish from its relentlessly masculine orientation. As I have explored his work in greater detail, Norman has slowly crept up my list of great science fantasy writers. His courage, originality and depth of insight into human nature, the ability to see man as he really is, are almost unequalled in postwar fiction of any genre. This last quality alone qualifies him as one of the very few true greats, along with Jack Vance, Frank Herbert, H.P. Lovecraft, R. E. Howard and even Eddison himself. And, of course, the insight he possesses and the truths he tells, so far from the P.C. egalitarianism of today, is exactly why his works are supressed and deliberately distorted by the mass-minded arbiters of taste. My advice: get all his books. They are strong medicine for the disease of the modern world, and there is nothing else like them. (And if you can, get the edition of Captive of Gor with the Boris cover, for it is one of his best).

"Captive of Gor," the 7th volume in John Norman's Chronicles of Counter-Earth, was the first book in the series that I did not really enjoy. The reason was not because this is the first volume to be devoted primarily to Norman's Gorean philosophy of slavery/submission as the natural condition of women, but simply because Tarl Cabot (or Bosk of Port Kar as he is currently known in the series) is not the main character in this novel. In "Captive of Gor" we are introduced to Elinor Brinton, who was a wealthy and powerful woman on Earth, but who is brought to Gor and made a pleasure slave in the service of the slave merchant Targo. In other words, we have a modern "liberated" woman put into a condition of slavery where she is forced to learn the arts of providing pleasure to any man who purchases her for the night for a few tarn disks. The conflict between the Priest-Kings and the Others which is the major backstory of the Counter-Earth series is behind Elinor's abduction, but that is ultimately a minor point in this 1972 novel where the focus is on the nature of human sexuality. Norman tells essentially the same story in "Slave Girl of Gor" (1977) and "Kajira of Gor" (1983), but then for that matter the story of Elinor Brinton is not that much different from what happened to Elizabeth Caldwell, transformed into Vella of Gor in the fourth Gor book, "The Nomads of Gor." Consequently, there is really no surprise to what happens in this novel and the style is not enough this time around to overcome the lack of substance (i.e., Norman does not create any compelling supporting characters as he did in previous novels). Gorean philosophy aside, "Captive of Gor" is a major break in the developing narrative. There is nothing wrong with that, but Norman continues to abandon the epic story arc he created in the first six volumes in the ones that followed this volume as well. Consequently, "Captive of Gor" becomes a pivotal novel in the series, representing the end of the great adventures and the beginning of the sociological textbooks.

'Captive' is my favorite book in the Gor series. I'm a female, I'm a serious Sub, and I love to be dominated. Although I'm very independent, very dominating in my personal business affairs, where sex is concerned I am into utter and complete submission. So now you know where I am coming from.The Gor series is about dominance and submission, period. Of course there is the 'big' story. But the sexual philosophy is the core of the series IMHO. I love the series up until Captive, but after that I find it becomes far too brutal, (for me) leaning toward an ugly, mean-spirited sadism. The first seven books reveal the true beauty of sexual slavery, masters and slaves have a mutual need, whose end result is pleasure, pain, and an immense erotisism that only those who understand, can experience. For me, the series ends after this book. I read 'Captive of Gor' some 20 years ago. I was so excited to read the story of a slave, rather than Tarl/Bosk adventures and POV. I love Elinors abduction, and induction into the world of the Kajira. As I read it I became her, Gor entered my dreams, both awake and asleep. I loved the majority of the 'minutae' of Gorean slave culture. On a few occasions it became excessive, but hey, that is what skimming is for, to get back to the good stuff. I wanted so badly to be whisked off to the counter earth, I could hardly stand it. If you compare this book to 'Slave Girl of Gor' it is about the incredible joy of submission, while the latter is about pure sadism, humiliation, and punishment. I hated the books immediately after 'Captive' for their excessive punishment and cruelty, so much that I skipped ahead to 'Slave Girl'. I never made it through the first hundred pages. How noble is it for three hardened Gorean warriors to rape, and mercilessly beat, a frightened girl from Earth? Not very. Gone is any sense of pleasure, of rapturous joy. All that is left is brutality. In 'Captive of Gor' Miss Brintons journey is brutal to be sure, but the element of erotic joy between master and slave is what makes it wonderful for her in the end. If you are powerfully stirred by dominance and submission, I think you might really like it. My issue with Mr. Norman is his insistance that the Master/Slave relationship must be built on intense physical abuse, punishment, psychological violence, and Sadism. No master need treat me that way. I am a good little slave, obedient, and ready to serve, I need no abuse. I am ready to please my Master, but I have my own demand, which is respect, kindness, protection, and to recieve pleasure myself. I should be cherished.

John Norman's study of Human Sexuality is written well in his World of Gor stories. He suggests that we humans are slaves to the society that we live in and can not truely be free until that in which we hold dear is stripped from us making us a slave to another so we as humans can find our true and hidden nature. Upon finding such we Humans can truely be free to be ourselves in the society that keeps us in collars and leashes. Being both a submissive and a psyhology major I feel John Norman has hit the proverbial nail on the head about this our enslaved world

I have read several of John Norman's Gor series book and thoroughly enjoyed this one. He does well telling from a slave girl's point of view. It does make you think what would happen if you did take a spoiled rich woman from this planet used to getting what she wanted and having men cater to every whim to being a naked and chained girl on a barbarian planet who finds her true place is kneeling at the feet of a real man, her master.