Re: RARA-AVIS: Recent Reads

From: DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net
Date: 30 Jan 2005


Keith wrote:

"The first three of the four do, indeed, present three views of a character in psychological agony."

As does the fourth.

"They happen to be women. Miss Hendricks makes sure that the reader is not confused by the main characters gender and, I suggest, her focus and development is never on the men with whom her character interacts. So, is she a woman's or a man's voice?"

I agee with all of this, but would add that she writes in A woman's voice. My point was that she explores individual women, not womankind. She is not writing about all women any more than Jim Thompson is writing about all men. So why do we (I've certainly been guilty of it on occasion, too) label Hendricks "female noir," but simply call Thompson noir, without any qualifiers.

And if the gender of the noir is determined by the voice of the character, is Robert Eversz, creator of Nina Zero, also a voice of female noir? And does it make Dorothy Hughes, for instance, male noir?

Mark

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