There's really an anti-Carver backlash in sway? How come
nobody told me? I thought my dislike of this writer was very
much an eccentric, minority position.
> At times Carver was solid hard-boiled though
I
> doubt he saw it as a goal.
> His voice like that of John Gregory Dunne,
Nelson
> Algren, Scott Smith, Jim
> Harrison, Joyce Carol Oates, and others not
usually
> classified as hard-boiled
> reveal patches of the world where, toughness
rules
> but people "stand up"
> anyway, where hopes are leavened by despair,
and
> experience smashes holes
> through optimism. As Kevin or someone else
said
> here recently, it's the
> center of the writing that makes its
hard-boiled,
> not the presence of a
> detective, the inclusion of cynical dialogue, or
any
> of the other "hallmarks"
> of the genre.
>
Well, of course, people can define hb pretty much however
they want, so if your working definition lets in Carver, more
power to you, I guess. But I should say I picked Carver
because I thought he was a pretty clear example of someone
who wrote Hemingwayesque-derived prose and who *wasn't*
hardboiled. Oh, well. :)
Some of the other writers you cite are interesting to look
at. I particularly admire Dunne's True Confessions, which I
first read when I was about 14 or 15 years old and which has
stayed with me to this day. I think that's clearly a hb
novel, and a damn good one.
doug
===== Doug Bassett
dj_bassett@yahoo.com
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