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The eunuch—a man who is castrated—often shows up in fiction as the monster. He is depicted not just as physically strange but also as mentally warped and morally compromised. Where does this stereotype come from? Why do writers use this stereotype in their stories?
"Painting Dragons: What Storytellers Need to Know About Writing Eunuch Villains" is an exploration of how the eunuch gender has been stereotyped in both reality and fiction. The author, Tucker Lieberman, describes his personal process of how he developed an interest in this topic and why he believes it's important. He shares his insight with other writers in the hope that, as they become aware of their own assumptions about gender and sexuality, they can avoid reproducing stereotypes about eunuchs in their own work.
Often, a story needs a villain. But why should the villain be a eunuch? Vilifying eunuchs reveals cultural definitions of manhood, and repeating that literary trope feeds those same assumptions and cultural habits.
With a thesis illustrated by a detailed analysis of work by authors like Claudian, Robert Graves, Charles Pettit, James Justinian Morier, Dennis Wheatley, Iain Banks, Knut Hamsun, and Gustave Flaubert, "Painting Dragons" makes a unique contribution to gender studies and provides important advice to writers. It will interest readers and writers of historical fiction and fantasy, and it can inform those who study social attitudes toward gender, sexuality, disability, and cultural representation.