RRandisi@aol.com wrote:
> "Hardboiled," in it's truest and most accurate form
of the
> word, did exist from the 30's to the 50's, and
possibly the 60's.
Here's my two pennies worth: hardboiled literature is not
dead, it's obsolete. At least in the traditional form with
private eyes and untrustworthy clients. The genre began
almost as a parody of itself (with Chandler, of course, but
has anyone read William R. Cox's short stories about Dumb Dan
Trout: utter parody!) and now when some writers take it
seriously, it seems a bit funny and silly. There must be
something else besides PI's and swell babes. And there are: I
think the line from someone like Horace McCoy via Peter Rabe
to someone like Pelecanos is something where hardboiled
literature is best kept alive. We've been many times talking
about private eyes and what's suitable for them. I know now:
let's dump them. But let's keep the nostalgia for ourselves
and still read Chandler, Bill Cox and others who had fun back
then.
Juri
jurnum@utu.fi
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