I guess my overall point is that we should be more open to
folks who break
the boundaries. Not that we need to talk about them on this
list. But I'd
hate to think that rara-avians are so transfixed by the 20th
century, that
they'll never look back at some of the taproots of noir, such
as Dante's
"Inferno."
While I'm sounding off, I have to say that sometimes when the
old grudge
stories come up, and everyone agrees, this place seems very
like one of
those small towns where no one forgets. Doesn't matter what
else you've
done, you'll always be the so and so that.... Here, I'm
thinking more of
Oates' achievement, than McCrumb's or even Oates' views on
other writers.
JCO has always been prickly and individual, so far as I know.
I had to
chuckle when someone called her a feminist, though I suppose
any
professional woman nowadays has to be somewhat of one. But I
remember when
she clearly rankled the political feminists of the early 70s.
Whatever her
views, I'll tolerate them or ignore them, and judge her for
the fiction she
writes. I do the same for Ellroy.
Bill Hagen
<billha@ionet.net>
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