James sed:
> But _Naked Lunch_ does begin in foursquare reality,
with the narrator
> escaping the police on the subway. It steadily drops
into the surreal from
> that point.
That's true, James, and I happen to absolutely love Naked
Lunch. But I'm not certain that that intro, which is
tangential to the rest of the novel
(hell, as is everything in Naked Lunch, for that
matter!)doesn't make it fall within the realm of the
hardboiled.
On the otherhand, I disagree with something that someone
wrote (I think it may have been you when you posted a good
briefing of harboiled characteristics)that hardboiled has to
be based in reality (or something to that effect). K.W.
Jeter's Noir is certainly not based on reality as we know it
in traditional hardboiled. Yet, it's very hardboiled.
However, Jeter's Noir does in fact very surreal moments that
are central to the plot. I think what makes it different from
the sort of surrealism in Naked Lunch is that the whole point
of Naked Lunch is surrealism, while the surreal in Noir is
instead tangential to the story.
I think my view on Naked Lunch equally applies to Thompson's
Fear and Loathing.
If I've misquoted someone, please correct me
Tribe
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