RARA-AVIS: "Mirror Art" Versus "Window Art"

From: chrisaschneider@earthlink.net
Date: 21 Feb 2004


-----Original Message----- from: Geir Glosvik sent: February 20, 2004 subject: RARA-AVIS: Joseph Hansen

> When you're hetero, you don't want to read about faggots. But those
> are real good, hardboiled crime novels! I was surprised, meself...
> But [Joseph Hansen's] homosexual viewpoint never got to me once.
> Surprise? Well - yes.

Hell, I tried reading some Gold Medal-era John D. McDonald during JDM month a while back (was is "Where Is Janice Gantry"? "The Drowner"? I forget.) and the fact that he and/or his narrator seemed to be a hetersexist jock lunkhead who couldn't tell Elizabeth Taylor from Julie Newmar never stood in *my* way ...

Someone once spoke of "Mirror Art" versus "Window Art" -- i.e., art which shows you yourself versus art which gives you a glimpse of Someplace Else. The healthiest approach is to partake of equal, or near-equal, portions of both varieties.

Or is my own viewpoint hopelessly askew 'cause I share the same birth year and town-of-birth as Dennis "Mr. Fun" Cooper?

Cheers,

c.

P.S. When I last tried reading Hansen, decades ago, my reaction was "Earnest, but dull." I had a marginally better reaction to Michael Nava's "How Town," recently, which is in much the same literary territory. Perhaps you might try giving him a glance?

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