NP: Likeable characters

[The Great Quail]

I think that characters do not have to be "likeable" in a *personal* sense
to enjoy a book -- I agree that this is a shallow way to approach
literature, or any narrative.

However, main characters do need to be *engaging,* and therefore "likeable"
as *characters,* as fictive constructions.

Kinbote is unlikeable, but he is nevertheless engaging -- he captures my
interest and fascination (as well as loathing and pity.)

All of the characters in Berg's opera "Wozzeck" are essentially unlikeable,
but they are still engaging, and their tortured interactions are mesmerizing
to watch. 

Whereas in "Turandot," the main two characters are loathsome, and
essentially too shallow to be engaging -- Liu alone captures my attention,
and only the glorious the music carries me to the end. (Though the
unlikeable Sharpless from "Butterfly" *is* rather engaging, and succeeds as
a character.)

In another, more recent example of non-engaging characters.... In the film
"The Hours," I found no main characters sympathetic, likeable, or
fascinating  at all; and despite the great acting, beautiful cinematography,
and a wonderful score, the movie failed completely for me. (In fact, I found
it a load of pretentious crap aimed at bourgeois, hand-wringing, white
female East Coast liberals; crap containing a self-pitying message that
sends feminism reeling back a few decades; but that's another story.)

--Quail