I never was talking from people in my own past and their historical encounter.

and i agree because your a female your perspeectives are more romanticised, heck i think im just the same. im not complaining about any of that but i think sometimes it doesnt come off as well in fiction or reality if thats what your trying to get across.

Afaq: but aren't we speaking based on our own experiences with people in our time frame in History.

Who can really say whether, those types of characters did not exist in the time frame portrayed in the novel.

If we go back to Elizabethan times and the aristocracy in London for example, the men there dressed/acted in a manner that would be laughed at now.

It has been said also that Margaret Mitchell characterised based on people in her own life. Particularly that of Rhett who shared characteristics with her own husband.

And perhaps the story was romanticised, but being female, I know that often women in their late teens/early twenties as Scarlett's age was to be in, often view the world in a romanticised manner.

I agree silverstorm, a character not fitting into the mainstream picture of men does not disqualify him from being "real".

But that does NOT allow or should not allow the authoer of a book to go into tangents which are so strange and hard to believe. Women authors tend to do that a lot, they picture and write about men in views of their highest expectations. They have all done it. Ashley was very hard to believe to be a real man, ofcourse there are expectations but his characted was a great fit in the book but just not really into reality.

Other authors such as Isabel allende does this more than anybody else, her male characters tend to be either "perfect" or so imperfect.

Even male authors do this, such as Gabriel G.Marquez e.g. in his famous 100 years of solitude. So its not just for GWTW.

lol as for Rhett, well...what can i say! wasnt he shown to be the opposite of ashely? he lacked what ashley had and possessed attributes from the other side of the spectrum-

classics?to be frank i du n n o wat sort wld fall under that category...anyways i was thinking along the lines of Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, Scarlett Letter, Women in Love....errrrrr The Great Gatsby?!Some are awesome only to gain perspective on what life was like when chastity was a biggie, not that it shldnt now..

I disagree with you on the point about Ashley being a man in mind only, Afaq.

Reality proves that there are a wide variety of characters in life.

Just because he does not fit the mainstream view of what entails a man, does not make him less of one.

And one should consider that the story was written from the point of view of Scarlet and therefore will of course have an impact on the portrayal of the characters.

And I think that is what makes it a great novel. That we get a chance to view a story from a totally different perspective than what we would ordinarily view it.

Anyway, I agree that Rhett was much more of a man's man than Ashley and therefore much more appealing to the female population as a whole.

Guess that is part of the charm of GWTW - it makes us want Scarlet to realise the Ashley wasn't the man for her, despite her conviction that he was.

Written by a woman, gone with the wind was directed at them too.

I found little to connect with, empathise with and direct myself to. I believe great novels dont have such boundaries, lest they wish to.

The men in the novel were very unrealistic in my opninion, their characted lacked so much convictions and realness.

Ashley is a man that is only in minds.

Another of my well liked novels was True Women by Janice Woods Windle .

Perhaps not a classic, but a very good Saga.

Gone with the Wind, I think, gained more fame from it's female audience then male.

i wasnt very impressed with gone with the wind.
thought it was too much writing with too little substance. it was great but no way as great as the fame it has.

Anna karenina is my all time favourite,

I agree - the Count of Monte Cristo is definitely worth reading.

Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Caroll) are also good, quick reads.

I would definitely recommend Candide by Voltaire.

Edgar Allen Poe's shorts stories are intriguing, albeit a bit disturbing. :)

I too loved the Thorn Birds and Gone with the Wind.

Didn't like Scarlett (the sequel to GWTW) all that much.

A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford, was very good.

The Count of Monte Cristo and the movie was quite well done.

This link will give you access to the online catalogue of classics. Enjoy!!!
www.literature.org