Difference between revisions of "Asexuality in fiction"

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==Literature==
 
==Literature==
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* Please note: when noting characters of interest, anyone listed with [SA] next to their name refers to those who are believed to be Asexual. Their sexuality may or may not (have) be(en) confirmed by the author.
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===Novels===
 
===Novels===
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! Title
 
! Title
 
! Author
 
! Author
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! Character(s)
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! Plot
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! Characters*
 +
! Language(s)
 +
|-
 +
| A Clergyman's Daughter || George Orwell || “Intimidated by her father, the rector of Knype Hill, Dorothy performs her submissive roles of dutiful daughter and bullied housekeeper. Her thoughts are taken up with the costumes she is making for the church school play, by the hopelessness of preaching to the poor and by debts she cannot pay in 1930s Depression England. Suddenly her routine shatters and Dorothy finds herself down and out in London. She is wearing silk stockings, has money in her pocket and cannot remember her name. Orwell leads us through a landscape of unemployment, poverty and hunger, where Dorothy's faith is challenged by a social reality that changes her life.” || Dorothy Hare || English
 +
|-
 +
| A Room With A View || E. M. Forster || Plot || Mr. Beebe [SA] and Cecil Vyse [SA] || English
 +
|-
 +
| All Souls || Javier Marías and Magaret Jull Costa  || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 +
|-
 +
| The Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast || Bill Richardson || “A pair of endearingly eccentric bachelors--in their fifties, and fraternal twins--own and operate a bed & breakfast establishment where people like them, the "gentle and bookish and ever so slightly confused," can feel at home. Hector and Virgil think of their B&B as a refuge, a retreat, a haven, where folks may bring their own books or peruse the brothers' own substantial library. An antic blend of homespun and intellectual humor, Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast is a place readers will want to return to again and again.” || Virgil [SA] || English
 +
|-
 +
| The Bone People || Keri Hulme || “Set on the South Island beaches of New Zealand, a harsh environment, the novel chronicles the complicated relationships between three emotional outcasts of mixed European and Maori heritage. Kerewin Holmes is a painter and a loner, convinced that "to care for anything is to invite disaster." Her isolation is disrupted one day when a six-year-old mute boy, Simon, breaks into her house. The sole survivor of a mysterious shipwreck, Simon has been adopted by a widower Maori factory worker, Joe Gillayley, who is both tender and horribly brutal toward the boy. Through shifting points of view, the novel reveals each character's thoughts and feelings as they struggle with the desire to connect and the fear of attachment.” || Kerewin Holmes [SA] || Language(s)
 +
|-
 +
| The Book of Disquiet || Fernando Pessoa || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 +
|-
 +
| Bridge to Terabithia || Katherine Patterson || Plot || Character || Language(s)
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|-
 +
| Carrie Pilby || Caren Lissner || Carrie would rather stay in bed than deal with the immoral, sex-obsessed hypocrites who seem to overrun her hometown, New York City. She's sick of trying to be like everybody else. She isn't! But when her own therapist gives her a five-point plan to change her social-outcast status, Carrie takes a hard look at herself—and agrees to try. Suddenly the world doesn't seem so bad. But is prodigy Carrie really going to dumb things down just to fit in? || Carrie Pilby || English
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|-
 +
| Case Histories: A Novel || Kate Atkinson || Plot || Character || Language(s)
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|-
 +
| The Cider House Rules || John Irving || Plot || Character || Language(s)
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|-
 +
| The Collector || John Fowles || Plot || Character || Language(s)
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|-
 +
| Crampton Hodnet || Barbara Pym || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 +
|-
 +
| Darkly Dreaming Dexter || Jeff Lindsay || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''Case Histories: A Novel'' || Kate Atkinson  || Amelia, Philip
+
| The Dwarf || Pär Lagerkvist || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''The Pavilion of Women'' || Pearl S. Buck  || Madam Wu
+
| Forbidden Colors || Yukio Mishima || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''Sherlock Holmes Mysteries'' || Sir Arthur Conan Doyle  || Sherlock Holmes
+
| Geek Love || Katherine Dunn || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''Geek Love'' || Kathrine Dunn  || Miss Lick
+
| Herland || Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''Tom Jones'' || Henry Fielding  || Blifil
+
| The Hyannis House || Gordon Mathieson || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''Namedropper: A Novel'' || Emma Forest  || Viva Cohen?
+
| Infinite Jest || David Foster Wallace || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''A Room With a View'' || E.M. Forster  || Mr. Beebe and Cecil Vyse
+
| Jude The Obscure || Thomas Hardy || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''Jude The Obscure'' || Thomas Hardy  || Sue Bridehead
+
| July, July || Tim O'Brien || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''Guardian of the Dead'' || Karen Healey  || Kevin comes out as asexual to his best friend
+
| The Kreutzer Sonata || Leo Tolstoi || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''The Bone People'' || Keri Hulme  || Kerewin Holmes
+
| The Left Hand of Darkness || Ursula K. Le Guin || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''The World According to Garp'' || John Irving  || Jenny Fields
+
| Lily White || Susan Isaac || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''Herland'' || Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman  || the women
+
| Namedropper: A Novel || Emma Forrest || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''The Book of Disquiet'' || Fernando Pessoa  || Bernardo Soares
+
| No Touching || Aileen Deng || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''Crampton Hodnet'' || Barbara Pym  || (Barbara Bird)  
+
| Operation Hurdler, and Operation Outside Hitter || Michael Bilka || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''The Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast'' || Bill Richardson  || Virgil
+
| The Pavilion of Women || Pearl S. Buck || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''The Wrong Boy'' || Willy Russell  || Raymond Marks
+
| Scenes From A Holiday || Caren Lissner || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''Operation Hurdler'' and ''Operation Outside Hitter'' || Michael Bilka  || Faye and Linda Cooper
+
| Seethings || Michael Forman || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''To The Lighthouse'' || Virginia Woolf  || Lily Briscoe (described as asexual by Market Drabble in the introduction to the Oxford University Press edition and also [http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59716.To_the_Lighthouse here])  
+
| Sexing the Cherry || Jeanette Winterson || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
−
| ''Clariel'' || Garth Nix  || Clariel
+
| Sherlock Holmes Mysteries || Sir Arthur Conan Doyle || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 +
|-
 +
| The Son -  || Jo Nesbø || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 +
|-
 +
| To The Lighthouse || Virginia Woolf || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 +
|-
 +
| What Happened to Lani Garver || Carol Plum-Ucci || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 +
|-
 +
| The World According to Garp || John Irving || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 +
|-
 +
| The Wrong Boy || Willy Russell || Plot || Character || Language(s)
 +
 
 +
 
 
|-
 
|-
 
|}
 
|}
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! Author
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! Character(s)
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! Plot
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! Characters*
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! Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
 
| ''White Mars'' ||  Brian W. Aldiss  || Cang Hai
 
| ''White Mars'' ||  Brian W. Aldiss  || Cang Hai
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! Title
 
! Title
 
! Author
 
! Author
−
! Character(s)
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! Plot
 +
! Characters*
 +
! Language(s)
 
|-
 
|-
 
| Aye, and Gomorrah || Samuel R. Delaney || Spacers
 
| Aye, and Gomorrah || Samuel R. Delaney || Spacers

Revision as of 19:11, 31 July 2015

This list is for fictional portrayals of asexual or suspected-asexual characters. For non-fiction, see Asexuality in non-fiction.

Please expand this list!

Literature

  • Please note: when noting characters of interest, anyone listed with [SA] next to their name refers to those who are believed to be Asexual. Their sexuality may or may not (have) be(en) confirmed by the author.


Novels

Title Author Plot Characters* Language(s)
A Clergyman's Daughter George Orwell “Intimidated by her father, the rector of Knype Hill, Dorothy performs her submissive roles of dutiful daughter and bullied housekeeper. Her thoughts are taken up with the costumes she is making for the church school play, by the hopelessness of preaching to the poor and by debts she cannot pay in 1930s Depression England. Suddenly her routine shatters and Dorothy finds herself down and out in London. She is wearing silk stockings, has money in her pocket and cannot remember her name. Orwell leads us through a landscape of unemployment, poverty and hunger, where Dorothy's faith is challenged by a social reality that changes her life.” Dorothy Hare English
A Room With A View E. M. Forster Plot Mr. Beebe [SA] and Cecil Vyse [SA] English
All Souls Javier Marías and Magaret Jull Costa Plot Character Language(s)
The Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast Bill Richardson “A pair of endearingly eccentric bachelors--in their fifties, and fraternal twins--own and operate a bed & breakfast establishment where people like them, the "gentle and bookish and ever so slightly confused," can feel at home. Hector and Virgil think of their B&B as a refuge, a retreat, a haven, where folks may bring their own books or peruse the brothers' own substantial library. An antic blend of homespun and intellectual humor, Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast is a place readers will want to return to again and again.” Virgil [SA] English
The Bone People Keri Hulme “Set on the South Island beaches of New Zealand, a harsh environment, the novel chronicles the complicated relationships between three emotional outcasts of mixed European and Maori heritage. Kerewin Holmes is a painter and a loner, convinced that "to care for anything is to invite disaster." Her isolation is disrupted one day when a six-year-old mute boy, Simon, breaks into her house. The sole survivor of a mysterious shipwreck, Simon has been adopted by a widower Maori factory worker, Joe Gillayley, who is both tender and horribly brutal toward the boy. Through shifting points of view, the novel reveals each character's thoughts and feelings as they struggle with the desire to connect and the fear of attachment.” Kerewin Holmes [SA] Language(s)
The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa Plot Character Language(s)
Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Patterson Plot Character Language(s)
Carrie Pilby Caren Lissner Carrie would rather stay in bed than deal with the immoral, sex-obsessed hypocrites who seem to overrun her hometown, New York City. She's sick of trying to be like everybody else. She isn't! But when her own therapist gives her a five-point plan to change her social-outcast status, Carrie takes a hard look at herself—and agrees to try. Suddenly the world doesn't seem so bad. But is prodigy Carrie really going to dumb things down just to fit in? Carrie Pilby English
Case Histories: A Novel Kate Atkinson Plot Character Language(s)
The Cider House Rules John Irving Plot Character Language(s)
The Collector John Fowles Plot Character Language(s)
Crampton Hodnet Barbara Pym Plot Character Language(s)
Darkly Dreaming Dexter Jeff Lindsay Plot Character Language(s)
The Dwarf Pär Lagerkvist Plot Character Language(s)
Forbidden Colors Yukio Mishima Plot Character Language(s)
Geek Love Katherine Dunn Plot Character Language(s)
Herland Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman Plot Character Language(s)
The Hyannis House Gordon Mathieson Plot Character Language(s)
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace Plot Character Language(s)
Jude The Obscure Thomas Hardy Plot Character Language(s)
July, July Tim O'Brien Plot Character Language(s)
The Kreutzer Sonata Leo Tolstoi Plot Character Language(s)
The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin Plot Character Language(s)
Lily White Susan Isaac Plot Character Language(s)
Namedropper: A Novel Emma Forrest Plot Character Language(s)
No Touching Aileen Deng Plot Character Language(s)
Operation Hurdler, and Operation Outside Hitter Michael Bilka Plot Character Language(s)
The Pavilion of Women Pearl S. Buck Plot Character Language(s)
Scenes From A Holiday Caren Lissner Plot Character Language(s)
Seethings Michael Forman Plot Character Language(s)
Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson Plot Character Language(s)
Sherlock Holmes Mysteries Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Plot Character Language(s)
The Son - Jo Nesbø Plot Character Language(s)
To The Lighthouse Virginia Woolf Plot Character Language(s)
What Happened to Lani Garver Carol Plum-Ucci Plot Character Language(s)
The World According to Garp John Irving Plot Character Language(s)
The Wrong Boy Willy Russell Plot Character Language(s)


Science fiction and fantasy

Title Author Plot Characters* Language(s)
White Mars Brian W. Aldiss Cang Hai
I, Robot Isaac Asimov Dr. Susan Calvin
Diaspora Greg Egan Akili
Distress Greg Egan  ?
Fool's Errand, Golden Fool, Fool's Fate Robin Hobb Amber/Lord Golden
The Fire's Stone Tanya Huff Chandra
The Metabarons: Aghora the Father-Mother & Immaculate Conception Alexandro Jodorowsky Aghora
The Oathbound, Oathbreakers, and Oathblood Mercedes Lackey Tarma
Ombria in Shadow Patricia A. McKillip Mag the Waxling
The Deed of Paksenarrion: A Novel Elizabeth Moon Paks
The best of all possible worlds Karen Lord Lian
When the King Comes Home Caroline Stevermer Hail Rosamer
Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut Mona Aamons Monzano
Deadeye Dick Kurt Vonnegut Rudy Waltz
Rose of the Prophet Trilogy: The Will of the Wanderer, The Paladin of the Night, The Prophet of Akhran Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman Azriel
The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien Bilbo Baggins

Short stories

Title Author Plot Characters* Language(s)
Aye, and Gomorrah Samuel R. Delaney Spacers
The [Widget], the [Wadget], and Boff Theodore Sturgeon  ?

Featuring asexual or suspected-asexual characters

  • Susan Isaacs - Lily White (sexual main characters lead asexual relationship)
  • Caren Lissner - Carrie Pilby (Carrie Pilby)
  • Caren Lissner et al. - Scenes From A Holiday (Carrie Pilby, see novella titled "Carrie Pilby's New Year's Resolution")
  • Tim O'Brien - July, July (Marla Dempsey)
  • George Orwell - A Clergyman's Daughter (Dorothy Hare)
  • Banana Yoshimoto - The Lake (Nakajima; asexual relationship)

Movies

Year Title Reason Notes
1987 Withnail and I The film ends with Withnail saying "Man delights not me, no, nor women neither, nor women neither."[1] (These words are in fact originally taken from a quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet, act 2, scene 2.[2]) Directed by Bruce Robinson
2006 Sherlock Holmes (Most versions) Sherlock Holmes is generally considered asexual. -
2010 Inception Ellen Page plays Ariadne. Unusually for a female character, she isn't a romantic interest and she expresses no desire for other characters in the film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, Arthur, tricks her into a kiss once, to which she seems unreactive. Directed by Christopher Nolan
2004 Mysterious Skin Brian Lackey, who was sexually abused as a child. He shows no interest in sex or romance, and seems repulsed when a female character abruptly tries to kiss, touch and undress him. Another character describes his "vibe" as "kinda weirdly asexual."[3] His memories of the abuse are strongly repressed until the end of the movie, as he believes he was abducted by aliens and not sexually abused. Directed by Gregg Araki

Television Shows

Year Title Reason
2006 – present Dexter The title character, a serial killer, feels emotionally divorced from the rest of humanity and has no interest in romance or sex.[4]
1963 – 1989,
2005 – present 		Doctor Who The Doctor's sexuality is ambiguous; his relationship with Rose Tyler has been described as "a love story without the shagging".[5]
2010 Huge American show, character Poppy (played by Zoe Jarman) is the girl's cabin leader. She self-identifies as asexual in season 1, episode 5.[6]
2002 – present Ouran High School Host Club Haruhi Fujioka, the main character, has no interest in romance and prefers platonic relationships despite being surrounded by attractive males and females.[7]
1992 – present Shortland street New Zealand TV Show - character Gerald is asexual.[8][9]
2007 – present The Big Bang Theory American sitcom, character Sheldon Cooper expresses asexual tendencies.
1985 – 1992 The Golden Girls American sitcom, character Rose never thought about sex before she was married and when her husband wanted to have sex for the first time she didn't really understand sexual desire. She has never orgasmed.
2006 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya One known asexual character, Yuki Nagato, and an anti-romantic character (titular). The show doesn't feature any relationships except for platonic ones, although the narrator character does experience some sexual attraction himself.[10]
2010 Sherlock Holmes says having a girlfriend is "not really my area", he considers himself "married to [his] work", and tells Watson, "I am flattered by your interest, [but] I am really not looking for anyone." Steven Moffat said in an interview 'He's happy being Sherlock Holmes... other people might have a problem with him being asexual, he doesn't have any problem with it, he's fine.'[11]
2014 - 2015 Sirens Voodoo, one of the EMTs has canonically said that she is asexual. The other EMTs refute the theory that she "hasn't met the right person" by saying that she met Johnny Depp and only thought that he wore too much makeup.
2015 - present The March Family Letters Webseries. When asked if she had a crush on Laurie, Beth asked, "You do remember that I'm ace, right?" Jo responded by saying "that doesn't mean you're aromantic." Beth made no further comment on her romantic orientation, only saying that she was not interested in Laurie.

See also

External Links

References

  1. ↑ Withnail & I on Shitespace
  2. ↑ Hamlet Text and Translation - Act II - Scene II on eNotes
  3. ↑ Mysterious Skin Script - Dialogue Transcript on Drew's Script-O-Rama
  4. ↑ Dexter - on AVEN Forums
  5. ↑ Doctor (Doctor Who) on Wikipedia
  6. ↑ Huge (TV series) on Wikipedia
  7. ↑ TV romantic cliches *clenches fist* - on AVEN Forums
  8. ↑ Shortland Street Asexuality Storyline - playlist on YouTube
  9. ↑ Shortland Street on TVNZ
  10. ↑ The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - on AVEN Forums
  11. ↑ Sherlock – Audio interview with Steven Moffat on Geek Syndicate
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