The protected men
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The protected men ( French : Les hommes protégés , English : The Virility Factor ) is the title of a novel by the French writer Robert Merle . The book deals with the topic of a worldwide epidemic that only affects men and thus triggers a change from andocracy to gynecocracy .
The first German edition was published in 1976 by Aufbau-Verlag with a translation from the French by Anna Mudry and an afterword by the Romanist Hans-Otto Dill .
action
A worldwide epidemic affects men of sexually mature age. After a short time, the infected people die. The women gradually take over all important positions in politics and business. The only way to avoid infection is to stop spermatogenesis by castration. Men who undergo this procedure occupy a higher position in society than the men who do without it. A group of scientists, the protected men , comes to a quarantine camp to research a serum. The Italian scientist working in the US health care system Ralph Martinelli recognized the emergence of the epidemic early on, but tried only half-heartedly to warn the public about it. He is one of the protected men . However, the women who have come to power are not very interested in changing the situation. Radical lesbians dominate politics. Relationships between a man and woman in a marriage are tolerated; in the case of extramarital intercourse, men face prison, women face re-education. Selected men are asked to give their semen to a semen bank. The government is becoming increasingly totalitarian, but resistance is also rising.
literature
- Robert Merle: Les Hommes protégés. Editions Gallimard , Paris 1974
- Robert Merle: The Protected Men. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin and Weimar 1976
Web links
- The Protected Men - Review by Rupert Schwarz
Individual evidence
- ^ The protected men in the catalog of the German National Library. Accessed December 27, 2009 (German).