It's almost like Willeford is writing an expose of the worst
tendencies
of men. Still, I don't get a sense that he is dealing with
gender the
way Ellroy sometimes seems to deal with race and sexual
orientation--it's almost like Ellroy sets his books in the
past so he
can spout bigotry and homophobia with impunity, but with the
escape
clause that "it's not me, it was the times." And on those few
occasions
where Willeford's men are forced to see women as people, they
don't know
what to do. In the later Mosleys, when Hoke is living with a
women and
two girls, he hasn't a clue.
Also, many (most?) of Willeford's non-Hoke (and even Hoke in
Grimhaven)
protagonists are sociopaths who look at all people, male and
female,
from the perspective of what they can do for them. I don't
think that
Wileford's matter of fact presentation should be taken as
endorsement.
Are we to think Willeford approves, or expects us to approve,
of
Figueras's other actions that don't relate to Berenice?
Mark
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