Jim,
Thanks for the clarification. That makes a lot of sense.
There is a lot of gray area as well, not just in Gores's work
but in general. A routine case becomes personal for a
professional investigator and by necessity and/or choice an
amateur takes on the role of investigator.
Any good examples spring to mind of these kinds
of transitions?
I'm sure there are many, many examples in noir literature.
Ironically enough, typical noir protagonists rarely live in
black and white worlds.
Best, Harry
the roll of investigator Quoting JIM DOHERTY <
jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com>:
> Harry,
>
> Re your question below:
>
> "I'm just about done WOLF TIME and I'm
curious
> whether, in your opinion, you would consider
Hollis
> Fletcher an amateur or a professional. He
is
> clearly an expert hunter/tracker but he
himself
> expresses doubts about his ability to transfer
those
> skills to tracking down the person that shot
and
> crippled him. And, on the other side of the
coin,
> there are plenty of professional politicians,
but
> would you consider them professional 'bad guys' in
the
> traditional sense?"
>
> Fletch strikes me as being similar to Curt
Halsted,
> the college professor in A TIME FOR PREDATORS.
He's
> not really a professional detective, but he
has
> professional skills that can be applied to the
task.
> In the case of Hollis Fletcher, it's the skills of
a
> hunter and outdoorsman. In the case of Halsted,
it's
> his long-dormant skills as a combat soldier. But,
to
> a degree, all amateur sleuths have skills that can
be
> applied to crime solving. What sets a
professional
> apart is self-identification, and whether or not
the
> character is trying to make a living from it. If
he's
> been trained as some sort of investigator, thinks
of
> himself as some sort of investigator, and makes
a
> living at it, or at least gets paid for it, then
he's
> a pro. If he's just applying skills he's learned
from
> a different walk of life than police work
(private
> investigation, espionage, etc.) to a specific,
one
> time only task, then he's not.
>
> In the case of WOLF TIME, the presidential
candidate
> who's one of the villains is not making money from
his
> criminality, per se. He's trying to suppress a
guilty
> secret. In this context, he's rather like
the
> upper-class murderer of a cozy, who's not
a
> professional criminal per se, but who
persuades
> himself that the crime he's committing is
necessary,
> "just this once," to preserve his
opinion.
>
> Just my take.
>
> JIM DOHERTY
>
>
>
>
>
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