The Professor and the Dominatrix.
The Professor and the DominatrixJohn Harrigan
PublishAmerica
P.O. Box 151, Frederick, MD 21705
1605633682 Hardcover $32.95; Softcover $27.95 www.publishamerica.com
The Professor And The Dominatrix is a novel that takes on the challenge of combining crime investigation and sexuality. It just so happens I'm a good candidate to review such a novel.
I've read a lot of crime investigation fiction from Edgar Allen Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle (the great pioneers of the genre) to Dashiell Hammett (still the best writer to work in the genre) to many of the past bestselling authors that came after Hammett to a lot of the crime investigation novelists producing bestsellers today (Sue Grafton being the best of them). I've been reading sexuality fiction for approximately 48 years (I'm 60 at the moment I'm writing this). My "resume" includes Justine and Juliette by The Marquis de Sade, Story Of The Eye by Georges Bataille, The Erotic Adventures Of Sleeping Beauty by A. N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice), The Pearl: A Journal Of Facetiae And Voluptuous Reading, The Story Of O by Pauline Reage, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Belinda by Anne Rice, Totally Herotica edited by Susie Bright, Macho Sluts by Pat Califia, Vox by Nicholson Baker, Delta Of Venus and Little Birds by Anais Nin, and American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.
When a person reads a book, she reads it in a context created by all the books she has read. This is unfortunate for Harrigan because his novel suffered in the context of my reading history. The Professor And The Dominatrix does not stand tall among its peers inside my head.
That does not mean this novel cannot be enjoyed. If a person reads it without the kind of context I have and is not a Victorian dinosaur, a higher evaluation would not surprise me. The story is basically simple. Professor Synan Slane is brought into a murder investigation as a consulting psychologist. The evidence suggests S/M is a component of the crime. That connects Slane with the dominatrix Orla Lowe, head of an S/M establishment called the Peabody Casket Company (the building once housed a casket factory and it amused her to keep the name when she occupied the place). He interviews her for her S/M expertise and because she might know a sadist who could have committed the murder. She's not much help, but Slane soon doesn't care. Eventually Slane and Lowe fall in love and get married.
The sexuality is pure vanilla, though I suppose a prude would be very offended. The crime investigation is commonplace. Harrigan was more interested in cultural analyses than in being creative with the sexuality or the investigation. The cultural analyses, since they are based on Freethought and Secular Humanist philosophy, are often better than what is offered by many contemporary crime investigation authors (these guys and gals write as if they desire to avoid being identified as too intellectual or too liberal).
Atheists, Freethinkers, and Secular Humanists will enjoy all the Freethought content in the novel. Chapter 4, "Critical Thinking 101", is an effective summary of hundreds--perhaps thousands by now--of articles in The American Rationalist and other Freethought magazines I have read. It succinctly hits many different Freethought and Secular Humanist nails squarely on the head. For example: "Critical thinking will help a lot in understanding. From the rattle shakers and scary-mask wearers to today's slick televangelists, status and influence are major ingredients in keeping unproven beliefs alive and making money." I disagreed with Harrigan only when he wandered down the dead end street of evolutionary psychology. Throughout the book the nails get pounded with true, driving blows.
Atheism, Freethought, and Secular Humanism can be translated into fiction of all genres that tells powerful stories. It doesn't seem to happen often. Are the novels, novellas, and short stories seldom being written or are they generally rejected by editors who are either offended themselves or overly concerned about offending "average American" readers? When a novel written for us does get published, it is cause for celebration and we should buy it if we have the extra money simply because publishers respond to sales figures. If a novel by one of us gets out there and has enough sales, the editors who work for publishers will read submissions of Freethought and Secular Humanist fiction with a more accepting attitude. The Professor And The Dominatrix should be supported by us, and I'm certain many will be very glad they did.
G. Richard Bozarth
Reviewer
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| Author: | Bozarth, G. Richard |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Reviewer's Bookwatch |
| Date: | Sep 1, 2009 |
| Words: | 747 |
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