John Norman

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John Norman

John Norman

The author of the Gor novels is John Norman, also known to the world at large as John Frederick Lange, Jr., Ph.D. (3 June 1931 - present).

John Lange was born in Chicago Illinois to John Frederick and Almyra D. (Taylor) Lange on the third of June 1931. He married Bernice L. Green on the fourteenth of January 1956 and has three children, John, David, and Jennifer. (A note in passing: net searches turn up a college wrestler named John Lange, and several college faculty members; if any of these are John Lange III it can't be proven by me.) He appears fairly regularly at east coast science fiction conventions, sometimes accompanied by his wife. Anyone with knowledge of his convention schedule is encouraged to share it; an appearance itinerary would make a fine addition to this page.

He took his B.A. from the University of Nebraska in 1953 and his M.A. from USC in 1957. In 1963 he obtained his Ph.D. from Princeton with a 149 page dissertation entitled In Defense of Ethical Naturalism: An Examination of Certain Aspects of the Naturalistic Fallacy, With Particular Attention to the Logic of an Open Question Argument (Princeton University, 24-12, Page 5636; order #AAI6401330).

Professionally, John Lange has been an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Queens College, CUNY (picture at right) for some time; as their philosophy department has not yet gotten a web page at this time and web wanderers are locked out of the faculty evaluations, I can't say definitively that he's there to this day – but the best information available indicates that he is.

Professional correspondence should be directed to Prof. John Lange care of the Department of Philosophy, Queens College of the City of New York, Flushing NY 11367. (Letters regarding his writings as John Norman should probably be sent via his agent or publisher, if only as a matter of politeness, but I do not have those addresses at this time.)

Alternately, fans might attempt to send letters to him via Vision Entertainment, the company that is producing the upcoming Gor Magazine. They are at Vision Entertainment, P.O. Box 9, Flushing New York 11358.

As John Lange he has written 'The Cognitivity Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Claims of Philosophy' (© 1970 Princeton University Press, isbn 691-07159-4) and edited C.I.Lewis' 'Values and Imperatives: Studies in Ethics' (Stanford, 1969).

The Gor novels, his best known works, span 25 books written from 1967 to 1988, plus three installments of the Telnarian Histories, two other fiction works, and a nonfiction paperback entitled Imaginative Sex which was out of print for many years but has been reprinted recently by a specialty house. He has completed work on the 26th book of the Tarl Cabot series, which is entitled Witness of Gor and is expected to appear sometime in mid-1998. The 27th book is currently being written. There's also a graphic novel adaptation of Dancer of Gor coming from Vision Entertainment, which is producing a quarterly Gor Magazine; the first issue is complete and will be out early in 1998 with the next to follow a few months later; they hope to go monthly within the year. Biographies of his works are available on the web; among them are Sir Midian's (for completeness) and the Slaves Den, Swtangel's Slave Pages (for cover art). His name is also occasionally seen in the New York Review of Science Fiction.

Themes

According to Norman, his Gor books are science fiction or adventure fantasy works which are also "intellectual, philosophical, and psychological novels". His fiction depicts fantastic worlds where male-dominated bondage relationships are natural and widely practiced and respected culturally, whereas characteristics of modern society are criticized and philosophical themes are explored, specially from a Nietzschean view.

Although the bondage in his Imaginative Sex guide is directed to sexual practices, the bondage and slavery presented on "Gor" follows along the lines of societal or legal slavery; a common way of life as reflected in ancient Rome and other societies. While the philosophy presented is unquestionably that of male dominance, male characters are themselves often enslaved by powerful females. In an interview with Polygraff magazine, Norman stated that he believes that it is obvious that all societies are based on dominance and hierarchy.

His non-fiction works cover philosophy, ethics and historiography.

Gorean subculture

A fandom based on his Gor novels, known as the Gorean subculture, has developed, without Lange's participation or cooperation. Scholars have discussed the way that Gorean subculture groups on mediums such as IMVU, Second Life and Internet Relay Chat have influenced the development of online role-playing and even the MMORPG genre.

Also see [ Authors of erotica ] and/or [ Authors of BDSM stories ]

See also John Norman Interview

Kajira-kef.jpg Other John Norman/Gorean topics

John Norman: "Imaginative Sex", "Time Slave"
GorGorean bondage devicesGor booksGorean dictionary *Gorean faunaGorean floraGorean slave positions

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