The Labor Day Post. Resurrected Post.
Let me tell you tales of labor of high adventure. Or, maybe not. I mean, you���ve got your Labors of Hercules. But let���s face it, those weren���t so much lunch pail jobs as they were quests. And Hercules was hardly a blue collar fellow.
There is Sam. Samwise Gamgee, that is. He provides, probably, the quintessential exemplar of the working class hero. A gardener on a heroic quest. A participant at least. The only of the Fellowship with a job. The rest of the Fellowship consisted of aristocrats or demigods. Good work, if you can get it.
Garrett, P.I. is self-employed. In fact, he���s employed as little as possible, preferring to loaf rather than labor. And now that he���s got people on his payroll, he is management, not labor. The boss.
Neither Conan, Fafhrd, or the Gray Mouser ever worked a steady job if they could help it. Why would we want them to? Those of us bringing home a paycheck who also read heroic fiction do so to forget about the job for awhile. We don���t want to read about Conan���s day at the office, or the Gray Mouser���s panel van breaking down along his route. We want to read about them breaking heads in a tavern brawl.
Look, there is nobility in work, in doing your job well and taking care of your family financially. But it isn���t the stuff of legend. I understand there is a market for business novels in Japan. Good for them, but I can���t say it sparks my interest. No, when I get home from work I���d rather open a book to swashbuckling adventure, not to salary negotiation and the copier malfunctioning again.
So happy Labor Day, all. Have a cold one, toss a dog on the grill, and read a tale of high adventure.
