Wait a minute... do i know the meaning of Tragic wrong ? doen't it mean sad story ? i always used it for sad, really sad stories and unforunate everyday stutation... and ofcouse it includes death since that's one of the most unfortunate, sad stuations.
I have never read Flash Gordon or anything with Super Awesome Magic Whiteman lol but that kind of brings The Avatar movie to my mind... interesting.
It's not blasphemous... oh heck... but i can understand, muslim people can't really handle blaphemy... the creator of the book would probably get some death letters or worse... :/
I believe the classic definition of "Tragedy" is a story in which the heroes own decisions/ character lead to disaster. Especially IF its actually the heroes best qualities that lead to disaster. It might be a story, for example, where the heroes honesty and bravery lead him to confronting a corrupt dictator...and the hero dying as a result of that confrontation.
Plenty of sad stories...say a story about a kid dying through illness, say...are not technically tragedies. (But a story about a nurse who gets infected through risking contact with an infected patient would be.)
But...that strict definition of tragedy is probably getting restricted to English Lit pedants now, and probably (?) most people use "tragedy" and "really sad story" inter-change-ably.
But the above is all based on an hazy recollection of an English Lit class decades ago. So welcome correction, if I'm wrong.
Last edited by JackDaw; 09-27-2016 at 12:37 PM.
yes that what basically tragic is but this story is not Some people die in it, the world is going down the toilet but the story is about two people and love and sexuality and religion and all that.
Tragic story is like Fear Agent. It has all the spaceships and rayguns you can possibly want but it's about a man who does everything possible to save the people he loves but loses everything and everyone anyway.
It's not blasphemous because Thompson (it seems to me) respects the culture and the religion. He just has his own approach.
looking forward to discuss it more when you've read it although it was a few years ago for me.
Read Habibi last year and it really made a heavy impact on me. Great book and not at all disrespectful imo. Thompson tried really hard to respect the culture and religion whilw still telling a story with weight. I bet if Thompson was a Muslim no one would be complaining about it. Great book, but not for the faint of heart
"You don't ever quit. Not even to your last drop of blood. You got folks relyin' on you then you just can't afford to." Sean Noonan-Hitman #47
OOP UPDATE
Looks like Volume One of AVENGERS BY HICKMAN OHC is going oop fast, as does/did Vol 2 of the FEAR AGENT LIBRARY EDITION
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My hauls for August-September.
You're right. What you describe is (almost) the definition of a Shakespearean tragedy (fatal flaw within the tragic hero combined with external influences lead to his ruin). Nowadays a tragedy is considered anything that evokes pity and ends tragically, i.e. in failure or death. This is why I also have a problem calling Habibi a tragedy: IIRC there are certainly sad events that create empathy for the protagonist, but it ends rather hopeful.
Last edited by LordJulius; 09-29-2016 at 09:01 AM.