Mario said: I wasn't teasing. The observation comes from my
whole experience reading British and American fiction. I find
British fiction, particularly English fiction, to be drier,
more subdued, more self-deprecating than its American
counterpart. Human nature being universal, the toughness is
probably the same, but the expression in language is
different.
************************************
i have wisely kept quiet on the british theme. sadly, i just
haven't read enough to form much of an opinion. but from what
little i have read, rankin's _black book_ and starling's
_messiah_, there appears a distinct difference between
british and american hardboiled, especially in character
makeup and the atmosphere, but other than simple cultural and
colloquial differ- ences, its hard for me to put my finger on
it.
colder, perhaps? i guess i'd say that for sure. com- pared to
the two brit books i mentioned, americans in hardboiled are
in a constant state of emotional turmoil. take rebus for
example. in _the black book_ rebus's world is turned inside
out. his girlfriend's tossed him out, his brother is
kidnapped and left hanging from a bridge, and a good cop
friend of his is brutally beaten and in the hospital, and
rebus is kicked off the force. and yet he still shrugs it off
with a minimum of angst and seems to be operating sharply.
under similar conditions, burke's dave robicheaux (sp?) would
have either drank himself senseless or indulged in an
out-of-body dreamworld experience, mike hammmer would have
killed at least two people, and travis mcgee would have
bedded two hot babes.
i had jokingly commented earlier on the lack of sex in the
two books i had read, but i think it fits with the
"cold" theory. sex is an act of passion, if not love, and
just doesn't fit the characters or writing style in either of
these two novels. now i'm certain that folks can point out
any number of brit hardboiled novels where the characters are
going at it like rabbits, but that doesn't fit comfortably in
with my premise, and will be duly ignored. ;-)
both starling's red and rankin's rebus both have a habit of
being cranky and rude with their friends, without any bad
feelings or apologies later on. more coldness.
the noir atmosphere of both these brit novels is relent- ess,
with very little relief. you find this in american stuff too,
like thompson's _the killer inside me_ or block's _when the
sacred ginmill closes_, but a big chunk of american noir has
some lighter moments. there is a time in cain's _postman_
where things are looking good for frank and cora. the same
can be said for keechie and bowie in anderson's _thieves like
us_. i've got derek raymond's _he died with his eyes open_.
from what i hear, there's not a lot of laughs in it,
either.
making generalizations about british lit based on two novels
is absurd, but mario jumped up and pointed to the
differences, and his experience paralleled mine (he
says
"subdued" and "drier", and i chose "cold"), so i thought it
worth mentioning. keep in mind my comments are about
differences only, and are not meant as criticism.
miker
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