Re: RARA-AVIS: dickless dicks in pomo world

Mario Taboada (matrxtech@sprintmail.com)
Fri, 12 Jun 1998 16:23:11 +0000 I think Fred Zackel's approach to the P.I. as a mythological figure has
much to be said for it - which does not mean that the Marxist approach
suggested by the original poster is worthless. The figure of the
self-reliant, lonely hero following his intuition and acting in
unexpected, sometimes "magical" ways (Marlowe being the paramount
example) is closer to the folk tale and the legend than it is to the
naturalistic story. However, I do not believe that a "pure" theory of
genres like that developed by Northrop Frye can ever capture the flavor
of the hardboiled story except in a superficial way. At the skeletal
level we have a type of romance, but the forces that drive the hero are
unpredictable and often very strange, which is what makes so many
hardboiled works evergreen and rereadable. The presence of the city and
its ways is also quite an important factor, although there are some
great hardboiled stories set in small towns.

I believe that the hardboiled and even the mystery in general has been
much misunderstood by critics, - even a brilliant critic, reader, and
writer like Todorov wrote nonsense on the topic. Great mysteries have
always been about interesting characters; the mechanics of the puzzle
were recognized from early on as somewhat suspect (and overused!)
artifacts.

Regards,

Mario Taboada
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