Re: RARA-AVIS: Crime Fiction in Cuba

From: Mrriter@aol.com
Date: 09 Jan 2002


In a message dated 1/8/2002 8:12:55 PM Mountain Standard Time, alaiep@cubarte.cult.cu writes:

Many years ago I quit worrying over sub-classifications within the genre. We live immersed in cliches and surrounded by artificial boundaries, many of them the result or market forces.

Yes, Jose, that "label thing" can be a bitch, a real two-edged sword. On the one hand, labels help steer readers to books that they might have an interest in, on the other hand, such labels narrow the audience. My own books usually get classified as part of a subgenre known as "the ethnic detective", then I get further sub-classified as writing "Chicano mysteries." No wonder no one's ever read my books!

Thanks for the recommendations in your latest message. I will try to find the ones I am not familiar with (Diez and Padura). I might add that Daniel Chavarria's "Adios Muchachos" is available in English. That's an entertaining novel, with a lot of the day-to-day feel for Havana that is in your book. Is it just a coincidence that prostitutes appear in your and Chavarria's books, as well as Martin Cruz Smith's "Havana Bay"?

Manuel Ramos

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