> here's something to discuss. i was just mulling over
in my mind the
general
> and consistent failure, in my eyes, of female
writers to produce female
> protagonists with any sort of real visceral
fortitude of the sort you see
> in the archetypal male PI. i think this missing
element is commonly
> identified as testosterone. does anyone
agree/disagree that a good PI has
> to have a strong heterosexual
orientation?
> http:/www.dennismcmillan.com
It starts to look a bit like a generalization. I like to see
amoral killers who like kittens, too. The hardboiled psyche
is more interesting to me than the hardboiled mask--the
swagger that goes with the testosterone. While I like PIs
like that as well, the danger is in the stereotype.
A male writer, Lehane produced a female character that I find
believable. NOw, to turn that around, I don't have a problem
with women producing women PIs who come short of the classic
PI mold, and sometimes the success is in the failure
itself.
I did a short paper on something similar to this a couple
years ago, and if the thread gets going some more, I might
dig it up and summarize, see what you all have to say.
Neil Smith Plots With Guns (http://www2.netdoor.com/~ansmith):
new feb/march issue.
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