Re: RARA-AVIS: Article in GQ

Mario Taboada (matrxtech@sprintmail.com)
Wed, 03 Jun 1998 18:34:28 +0000 Kevin Smith on Rafferty:

<<It's a pretty good article, with enough meat in it to spark a
half-dozen or so threads in this list, not the least of which is the
assertion that today's private eyes "feel like nostalgic diehards, worn
down by the strain of keeping the Chandler faith alive...as a compelling
myth, the private eye is history.">>

Good article. While I agree that many private-eye novels and even entire
series sound a bit tired (in some cases, were born tired), there are
always exceptions.

As to how believable a quixotic P.I. is in our day, I would argue that
Chandler's Marlowe wasn't exactly believable in the forties and fifties
either. It's the quality of the writing and the characters that draw the
reader - I take it for granted that there is an automatic suspension of
disbelief when the author really delivers a good story.

It's also interesting to notice how certain gifted authors have
circumvented the limitations of the P.I. as hero. Mosley, making Rawlins
a regular guy who gets into messes; Burke, by having Robicheaux be a
very peculiar sort of cop; Ellroy, by pushing the procedural in
interesting (even crazy) directions; Sallis, by making the crime and
investigation subsidiary to an existentialist drama; Gores, by adopting
the techniques of the procedural while nominally adhering to the P.I.
formula, and so on. These guys succeed because of unusual ingenuity and
talent, but many others who still plow the traditional P.I. territory
often produce pale, tired, cliche-ridden works that only contribute to
sinking the formula further.

Regards,

Mario Taboada
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