Well, here's one crime novel that deals with the beat counter
culture. Or at least the author meant it to:
http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bios.cgi?title=A%20Diet%20of%20Treacle
There are many not-so-old crime novels that deal with the
bee-bop jazz scene, which the beat movement emerged
from.
I'd say the absents of beats in golden-age crime stories has
more to do with the fact that many of the authors,
themselves, were from that scene and perceived that readers
were neither interested or accepting of that culture. These
authors wrote for money, after all. They wrote books they
believed people want to read, not necessarily what they,
themselves, want to write. Lawrence Block was a close friend
to Blues Guitar virtuoso, Dave Van Ronk. Block actually
penned a parody song that Van Ronk performed frequently:
Georgie On the IRT. Van Ronk, by his own admission was a
Communist and a radical. Van Ronk states this unequivocally
in his autobiography THE MAYOR OF MACDOUGAL STREET, compiled
by Elijah Wald after Van Ronk's death. Block pens the forward
to it.
The beat scene in New York and LA in the early fifties would
be a great backdrop for many crime novels.
Patrick King
--- jacquesdebierue <
jacquesdebierue@yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Patrick King
> <abrasax93@...> wrote:
> >
> > I never met anyone who actually talked
like
> Kookie.
> > The media at the time had a serious
love-hate
> > relationship with beat counter culture. In
my
> > recollection, none went far enough to
actually
> explore
> > it.
>
> How about crime writers? I don't know every
Gold
> Medal that was
> published, but hipsters do seem conspicuously
absent
> from what I've
> read, which is a fair amount. Not only hipsters
but
> the jazz scene in
> general, as well as the early rock'n'roll scene.
In
> other words, most
> crime novels of the 50s and 60s seem to take
place
> in a world that
> leaves out no less than what was really
happening...
> I had never given
> much thought to this but in retrospect it
seems
> clear.
>
> One might conclude that we've come a long way
as
> regards a more
> realistic portrayal of society in crime
fiction.
> What do you guys
> think? Just like you can no longer get away with
a
> TV script that is
> _totally_ invented cardboard.
>
> The thought that things have improved may cause
a
> lot of anxiety... I
> think we need to devote some months to writers
who
> are alive and even
> young!
>
> Best,
>
> mrt
>
>
>
>
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