This whole thread started with a discussion of the blurb for
a book none of us have read, and now we're getting people
quoting Latin while sneering at the pretentiousness of the
literati, and jamming square pegs into round holes to fit
notions of gender identities.
It's actually amusing to see how the over-simplified,
sweeping and specious logic of some of the alleged feminists
of DorothyL and the real he-men on this list are actually
quite similar, even when they're spitting at each other from
opposite sides of the gender divide. Maybe we can fix the
Monk up with head Dottie Diane, and they can have a lot of
black-and-white children. Assuming of course he doesn't lop
off any essential reproductive body parts in the meantime to
prove his point.
I mean, it doesn't take much rocket science to see, and it
shouldn't take away from one's own possibly precarious gender
identity to admit, that both men and women can write
hard-boiled. Or that male and female characters can both be
hard-boiled. Gender is, after all, just one component, of
many, of a character's makeup. Except perhaps in cartoony
stuff like Danielle Steel or Tom Clancy novels, characters
tend to be more than just their genders.
More proof that nothing's quite etched in stone, or as simple
as it seems? After several intriguing but too-clever by half,
"Look at me! I'm brilliant!" short stories in GQ featuring an
annoyingly alliterative scandal wanker for a Hollywood
scandal rag, James Ellroy drops (most) of the literary
overkill and writes a smart, staccato non-fiction piece that
calls into question the whole notion of capital punishment,
that will surprise more than a few of his readers. It reads
like Joe Friday on a talking jag, but it works. It's in this
month's issue.
Kevin Burton Smith The Thrilling Detective Web Site http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective/
An A&E Mystery.com Site of the Week, but don't let that
discourage you.
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