Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Hardboiled genealogy

From: Robert Elkin ( rictusaporia@yahoo.com)
Date: 07 Feb 2006


Megan, It was just a thought, perhaps too self-reflexive. I've used WJ successfully myself in a class (though the most productive Ellroy I've used is TABLOID), if not recently. Best, Rob

--- meganabbott2000 < meganabbott@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Rob:
> I thought about doing White Jazz, which I adore,
> but, in my
> experience, it's a little tough for undergrads (you
> gotta kinda work
> your way up to that one, in the Ellroy continuum).
> Plus, Dahlia riffs
> a lot on the cop-fixated-on-dead-woman strand in
> hardboiled fiction
> that's a big topic in the class. If it goes over,
> next time: White Jazz!
>
> Best,
> Megan
>
> -- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Robert Elkin
> <rictusaporia@...> wrote:
> >
> > Prof. Abbott--
> > If you're going to do an Ellroy cop novel, White
> Jazz
> > is the over-the-top example; Black Dahlia, while a
> > good read, uncovers no significant new ground, in
> > terms of form or subject.
> > Just a note.
> > Rob Elkin
> >
> > --- meganabbott2000 <meganabbott@...> wrote:
> >
> > > Hi, again:
> > > I use the films primarily for students to
> consider
> > > the different
> > > adapative choices that were made and possible
> > > reasons why--e.g., the
> > > romance btw. Marlowe and Vivian in Hawks's The
> Big
> > > Sleep vs. what we
> > > find in Chandler. Or, as another example, the
> shift
> > > from the
> > > mob-as-enemy in Kiss Me Deadly to the atomic
> threat.
> > >
> > > Thanks for the fantastic suggestions---believe
> me,
> > > as this hits Mach
> > > II, I will give Rara-Avis full credit!
> > >
> > > --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "George
> Tuttle"
> > > <noirfiction@>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > She does a great job in trying to make the
> word
> > > "genealogy" work. It
> > > > could never be as easy as "Abraham begat
> Isaac;
> > > and Isaac begat
> > > > Jacob." As a sidenote, it seems to me that
> there
> > > should be some
> > > > mention of Edgar Wallace, somewhere, as a
> > > pre-hardboiled influence,
> > > > since he plays such a part in the concept of
> the
> > > thriller prior to the
> > > > hardboiled era. Also, I would prefer to say,
> "Rise
> > > of the Paperback
> > > > Original." Paperbacks from 1939-1949 were just
> a
> > > repackaging of other
> > > > existing media (mostly hardcover, with some
> pulp
> > > and a little slick
> > > > fiction tossed in). Of course, there is
> Spillane
> > > whose paperback
> > > > reprints did do much to change the status quo,
> but
> > > that would put the
> > > > year as 1948, not 1939. Also, are Goodis and
> > > Williford's heroes really
> > > > psychotic? I am very curious about her
> definition
> > > of hardboiled and
> > > > noir (but aren't we all, always, endlessly).
> That
> > > said, her genealogy
> > > > is better than anything I could create. I
> liked it
> > > and applaud her for
> > > > attempting it.
> > > >
> > > > As for the syllabus, is anyone else
> uncomfortable
> > > with the use of
> > > > films in a literature course or at lease in
> the
> > > choice of these
> > > > particular films in a discussion of the
> shaping of
> > > the hardboiled genre?
> > > >
> > > > George the Librarian
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
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>
>
>
>

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