Now, now, I said I didn't want to get into an argument. :)
And certainly my own opinions are not, by any means, The Last
Word on the Subject.
---
marianne.macdonald@lineone.net wrote:
> Doug, you're talking as though there is a
very
> specific, limited thing
> which is HB. Well, if you define it as
"something
> that women don't
> do", then Whee! woman PIs just can't be hard
boiled.
Actually, I do have a very specific idea of what is and what
isn't hardboiled. I'm not going to get into that now, but I
did once post my definition here. If you want to see it, I
suppose it's lurking around in the archives. Again, this is
just my two cents.
By the way, I hope I haven't left anyone with the impression
that I don't think women can do hb. My experience with good
female writers in the genre, though, is very limited. (I like
Patricia Highsmith's work, but I don't consider her hb. I've
read some Vin Packer stories that I liked a great deal, but
am having a hard time finding her novels. That's about all
I've read.) I was quite serious when I was eliciting
suggestions.
Yes, I enjoy Muller and
> Grafton (though not
> all the time because like anybody else
they're
> grinding out one a year
> and sometimes it doesn't work, sometimes it was
a
> poor plot to start
> with, and sometimes they're tired and would
rather
> have done something
> else) -- not because they copy some earlier
writer
> or format but
> because they use and alter it.
I was also quite serious when I asked for someone who liked
these writers to explain why. Again, I'm not trying to start
and argument -- I'm just interested in hearing another point
of view on these writers. So, could you go into some more
detail?
Junkies aren't hard boiled (except
> maybe in fiction) but,
> like all the whores I've ever known, deeply
damaged.
> But this isn't
> crime fiction; these are victims, not avengers.
(
> I'm talking real life.)
Well, there's a great tradition of Seamy Sides of Life
stories in hb (Goodis, Burroughs, Bukowski, Goines, Slim,
etc.) So I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you
here -- one could easily imagine a hb whore's tale. Are there
any? I don't know.
doug
===== Doug Bassett
dj_bassett@yahoo.com
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