At 06:11 PM 18/02/2006 -0500, you wrote:
>There have been a number of recent attempts at PI
shows, but you're
>right, they haven't been very popular. Even Veronica
Mars (great show)
>gets far less than stellar ratings.
Suppose we take bounty hunter as the current embodiment of
PI, then DAWG, or whatever that "reality" thingee is on
A&E. Puts a doubly (if not more) ironic spin on the
notion of reality vs. the PI myth, anyway, and also brings
the PI to an ignoble end, dependent upon government
law-enforcement agencies for his living, a sort of free-lance
copper with one employer. Mind you, like a lot of "reality"
TV, there's a lot to be disappointed with. All like watching
a train wreck.
Come to think, I believe many of the A&E crime
documentaries now and then mention PIs in small,
disappointing roles, but I could be wrong. I find it hard to
give them my full attention, once the train leaves the
tracks. Just going by general impression.
>But were real PIs ever on the news, other than maybe
the Pinkertons, and
>most of the news they made was for strikebusting,
wasn't it? Hardly the
>makings of the mythic PI.
Real PIs are now security guards, patrolling gated
communities or corporations (assuming "private" means not
working for a public agency) which I guess is your point-
that's what they always did. Still, you'd think there'd be
plenty of room to popularize and mythologize this occupation,
especially given current public paranoia. There's the dick
who comes to learn the awful truth by working within the
corp., for instance. Would Michael Blair's "Hard Winter
Rain", with corporate chauffeur/body guard Joe Schumacher
leading the investigation, qualify as a PI story, or amateur
detective?
>While we like to think hardboiled is more realistic
than more cozy
>genres (highly debatable), I for one want myth as
much as reality in my
>PI novels. I do require a certain verisimilitude, but
that has as much,
>if not more, to do with internal consistency than it
has to do with
>external validity.
I'm with you on that. But didn't Stansberry write the Noir
Manifesto, calling for a new direction because the genre is
largely retreading the over-worn carcass of the old
mythology?
I thought Bill would mention this, but since he hasn't:
José Œatour launches "Havana Best Friends" at Toronto's
Gladstone Hotel next Wed., 7:00 p.m., joining in a discussion
with Peter Robinson and a book signing by both authors. All
this plus music, and free.
That suggests a trend I may be missing - please let me know
if that's the case - because Latour is living in Toronto now.
A market has developed in Canadian literature for books and
stories by "new Canadians," relating the experiences of first
and second generation immigrants in their current and former
homes. Has the PI mythology been exploited to explore any of
these tales?
Best, Kerry
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