Voice, view, perspective, etc., pretty much the same things
that are unique between individuals ... or do y'all not
accept the scientific view of human psychology?
I'm not a psychiatrist or a psychologist ... all I know is
what I've read in Freud, Jung, and others as well as personal
observation ... that is that men and women do not react the
same way to the world and there's a common trend in both
views that ironically (or at least I find it ironical) that
homosexual males tend to be the most similar to women and
lesbians to men. Equality is legislated concept ... it
doesn't exist in nature. In nature there is no equality,
that's what evolution is all about ... unique traits.
I see HB as a male hero's perspective of crime in an
unapologetic realistic view within the context of the
timeframe in which the setting is located and noir being that
of the criminal if push comes to shove from a literary
perspective ... I see noir more as a film genre/style (HB
adapted for the screen). Now if you want say HB is the male
or female perspective of crime in an unapologetic realistic
view within the context of the timeframe in which the setting
is located ... go for it. I see that being along the same
lines as saying someone who's killed more than one person
over a period of time is a serial killer ... semantically
correct, but definitively lacking when say a life-time
criminal who has happened to have murdered several people
over the years as compared to Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, or
Jeffrey Dalhmer.
Part of the problem is that there is no "definitive"
definition of just what HB is ... everyone has an opinion and
some share the same opinion, but there's no specific
definition.
Also, there are actually two issues here ... not one. Women
writing HB and women as HB protagonists. Can women write HB?
Of course ... setting, voice, etc., are all aspects that can
emulated by reading a large body of the canon. Can a woman be
an HB protagonist? In a general definition of HB, I'd say yes
... but once more when you look at it in a more specific
light, I don't agree that a woman can and so far the body of
work that one can draw on supports that ... I'd like to see
some true female perspective HB ... so far both men and women
have done nothing more than put a dress on a guy and call him
a lady in my opinion ... YMMV.
volente Deo,
Anthony Dauer Alexandria, Virginia
"The dead are heavy, after all."
-Will Christopher Baer, "Penny Dreadful"
Hard-Boiled Noir Discussion
Hard-Boiled-subscribe@egroups.com
> From: James Rogers
> Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2000 12:00 AM
>
> Well, it's not an illegitimate topic, or anything.
But I think we ought
> to clarify what these unique areas are. Maybe there
are
> some....I'm willing
> to be persuaded. Of course, part of the problen is
that there aren't all
> that many female writers who we can agree are
working in the HB
> area....witness the recent discussion as to whether
Charlotte
> Armstrong was
> HB/Noir or not.
> I have tried to make the case, in times gone by,
that P.D.James
> sometimes spills over into HBland. That went over
like a lead blimp. Maybe
> someone else can make the case that Grafton does (I
doubt it).
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