Deconstruction/Reconstruction

[marycatelli]

Except for the earliest literature we know about — the Akkadian Gilgamesh, certain parts of The Bible, the epics of Homer — all great literature has, to some extent, a deconstructive impulse. This is of course only natural: If the business of the first man is to create, the business of the second is at least partly to correct.
John Gardner

It strikes me that the only reason to take apart a pocket watch, or a car engine, aside from the simple delight of disassembly, is to find out how it works. To understand it, so you can put it back together again better than before, or build a new one that goes beyond what the old one could do. We've been taking apart the superhero for ten years or more; it's time to put it back together and wind it up, time to take it out on the road and floor it, see what it'll do.
Kurt Busiek

Comments

[dirigibletrance.livejournal.com]

But we do have new superheroes. Harry Dresden, for example. The scifi/fantasy bookshelf (the part that isn't infested with vamporn) is rife with new heroes doing bold deeds and righting wrongs and such.

[marycatelli]

Ah, but Kurt Busiek in Astro City is doing superheroes who admit to being superheroes and even wear the costumes.

[lwe.livejournal.com]

Not to mention, Kurt said that many years ago. It's not recent, and I'm pretty sure it antedates Harry Dresden's first appearance in print.

[marycatelli]

quite possible. . . I'm just quoting random interesting things that make a nice juxtaposition.