Gerald So (gso@optonline.net)
Tue, 23 Nov 1999 09:22:11 -0500
Hello, all.
Brian Lawrence asked whether Spenser
would be considered hardboiled. I think the definition of
hardboiled has to change slightly along with changing
detectives. At heart, though, "hardboiled" remains a
prevailing urge toward cynicism, suspicion, doubt, fear, and
violence. Given my working definition, I'd say the early
Spenser books--pre-Susan, pre-Hawk--are more hardboiled than
Parker's subsequent books.
For most of the 80s and 90s, Spenser and
Hawk have been more caricatures of hardboiled than actually
hardboiled. It's as if Parker really wants us to believe they
haven't lost their hard edges, but often in trying to drive
his point home, he proves the opposite.
On the other hand, if a detective keeps up
the tough-as-nails, heart-of-stone attitude too long, he
labels himself an anachronism. Amos Walker is a good example
of this, but more on him next month.
Gerald
-- # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Tue 23 Nov 1999 - 09:22:44 EST