In the year or so that I've been on this list the search for
an acceptable definition of "hardboiled" has occupied an
enormous amount of time and space and it doesn't seem as if
it's brought us any closer to a consensus. The discussion
isn't boring, just pointless. As Fats Waller (or, depending
who's telling the story, Louis Armstrong) once replied when
asked to describe jazz music: "If you have to ask, you don't
want to mess with it." Since we're here, messing with it, we
probably don't have to ask. We know what hardboiled is: it's
the kind of stuff we like. Otherwise, we'd be on some other
list. It's no big deal if the endless quest goes on; only a
few more seconds of pressure on the scroll key. But which is
the more interesting
(and/or productive) question: Is Raymond Carver (to use an
arguable case) hardboiled? Or: Is Raymond Carver worth
reading?
Dick Lochte
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