Anthony Dauer wrote:
> He accepts a pay check just like every other private
eye in the genre,
> except for some occasions and for the same reason
that any trench-coated
> PI of the classic era would. Need outweighing the
necessity of payment.
He never *needs* to accept a paycheck. He does so to amuse
himself.
> Again it boils down to time and culture. You're not
going to have a
> lower class Victorian opening up a detective
agency.
No--lower class Victorians went into the police force, where
they were markedly more hard-boiled than, say, Holmes. See
Tom Fox and Waters. Hell, see Dick Donovan.
> Nor is Holmes
> obviously upper middle class. He lives in modest
rooms that if anything
> evidence a modest financial reserve.
There's never any need for Holmes to accept money, though,
and I'd say his habits--the lab, the housekeeper, the
cocaine--weren't modest.
> His brother's position is one of
> acquired position through superior ability, not
necessarily or obviously
> a position of nepotism or birthright. There's plenty
of examples of
> Holmes working the streets, dressing the part,
walking the walk and
> talking the talk.
As a pretender--as an outsider. When the job's done he
retreats to his cozy room and loses himself in drugs or
violin or writing monographs, which is quite a distance from
Fox et al.
I'll concede the other points, but I still maintain that if
Holmes is hardboiled, than Fox et al are something else
entirely.
jess
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