> BobT wrote:
>
> "Laymon is more hardboiled, but there's a strong
streak of romantic
> sentimentality in his work. Maybe all the blood in
your eyes is blinding
> you to those elements. Ketchum is . . . romantic . .
. Garton, . . .
> pretty romantic, and . . . Poppy Z. Brite's
EXQUISITE CORPSE is highly
> romantic, sentimental and emotional at its
core."
Then Mark Sullivan wrote:
> I read very little horror (although a few of the
descriptions in this
> debate have me intrigued), so I can't comment on the
specific examples,
> but the gist seems to be that horror is romantic,
hardboiled is not.
>
> Then I guess we should stop discussing Chandler.
What could possibly be
> more romantic than the image of the tarnished knight
walking down those
> mean streets?
>
> Mark
>
To which I reply: Right on, Mark! The notion that horror is
rife with romantic sentimentality and hard-boiled novels are
somehow above all that strikes me as complete nonsense.
Romantic sentimentality is the subtext of most hard-boiled
fiction, especially the P.I.. subgenre. Chandler is probably
one of the worst
"offenders" (but even the likes of Hemingway and Bukowski can
be "accused" of it).
Marlowe is one of the great whiners of all time. Beneath his
cynical, rough and tumble veneer beats the heart of a bruised
romantic. It's what gives those books their heart and soul. I
doubt we'd still be reading Chandler sixty years later just
for the "plots."
Even Hammett's better work contains elements of a romantic
sensibility, i.e. Spade's conflicted heart as he does the
hard thing, turning in the woman he
"loves" for the murder of his partner in MALTESE FALCON. It
hurts, but it's got to be done. Poor, tough, Sam. And Hammett
is one of the LEAST sentimental of hard-boiled writers. As
for those that came after Hammett: they may be hard-boiled on
the outside, but the yoke is soft when the shell is peeled
away. Scratch most cynics and a defeated romantic will do the
bleeding.
If Ketchum, Garton, and Brite are romantics what are we to
make of list favorites like Crumley, Pelecanos and Block? To
say nothing of masters like Chandler, Cain and
Macdonald.
Richard Stark seems to be one of the few writers that
scrupulously avoids the romantic and sentimental in his
Parker books. Although I haven't read the last few. Isn't
Parker married now? Are the books softer because of
this?
TL
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