On Dick Literature

Dick literature refers to literary works of those who consider the male other as superior to the
female other or those literary works that exhibit male superiority over the female other. The term dick is an
English euphemism that is generally used as a vulgar term to refer to the penis. It is in this sense that the
phrase dick literature must be understood. Dick literature may also be described as a male chauvinistic
literature.
In relation to male chauvinism, the first documented dick literary work is Clifford Odets play entitled
Till the Day I Die (1935). Some shades of male superiority over the female other, which is usually in the
form of seduction, may also be seen in mile Zolas Au Bonheur des Dames or The Ladies Paradise
(1883). The novels protagonist, Octave Mouret, was the owner-manager of the largest and grandest
department store in Paris, The Ladies Paradise. In this regard, Mouret had only one passion, that is, the
conquest of Woman. He wanted her to be queen in his shop inasmuch as he had built this temple for her
in order to hold her at his mercy. In sum, he masterfully exploits the desires of her female customers. The
Ladies Paradise recounts the spectacular development of the modern department store in late nineteenth
century Paris as it is intertwined with a social critique of the consumer culture, the sexual attitudes, and the
class relations taking place at the time.
A contemporary male chauvinistic literary work is Michel Houellebecqs Les Particules
lmentaires or The Elementary Particles (also entitled in some other publications as Atomised), which was
first published in France in 1998. One of the protagonists, Bruno, initially subscribes to the belief that
women are merely commodities for the men to consume. In this regard, the novel shows how his
frustrations for having a hippie mother and a broken family have developed his disturbing idea of female
objectification from childhood until his late adult life. Subsequently, he developed a misogynistic view to the
extent that he blamed all the women in his life for all the miseries that he had been suffering and enduring.
In sum, the novel shows how an atomized society has transformed religion to shallow new age
philosophies and love to meaningless sexual connections.