But to think that the sociological and literary can be easily
divorced
in any culture strikes me as ludicrous. And to expect it in
so overtly
ideological a form as the mystery in general, but especially
in
harboiled, evidences severe myopia. The mystery is all about
restoring
order to the world; however the author defines that order
reveals an
ideological choice. Hardboiled was conceived as a class
critique,
asserting the value of the everyday man as he exposes the
corruption of
the more moneyed class (criminal and allegedly legit);
Hammett went to
jail for his politics. Spillane's politics on the other side
of the
spectrum are even more unavoidable.
All it means when someone claims a piece of culture is
ideologically-free, is that the ideology is the same as the
reader's,
just as you can't see blue when looking through a blue lens.
So when
someone has trouble with changes in a literary form, they are
probably
not too happy with similar changes in society and now resent
them even
more for invading their last remaining stronghold against the
change.
Mark
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