The discussion about James M. Cain served as a reminder to me
about how easy it is to overlook the context of the creation.
A common view of Cain's novels when they appeared was that
they were "smutty." Situations and words now common on every
sitcom and soap opera would have gotten a bookseller arrested
for over half the last century.
When I first read Cain, I was very impressed with SERENADE.
It was about 1960 and I was 14 and my friend the bookseller
gave me a big grin and said
"let me know what you think of this one." My reaction to the
novel was completely colored by the "oh my God" factor. I
have reread other Cain several times but never SERENADE and I
wonder how well it would hold up now that the plot situation
is no longer "daring," a favorite code word of blurb
writers.
The "smutty" perception was clearly articulated by the
Chandler letter quote that someone included recently. I
wonder if there was more to it than an English public school
primness. Thinking back to 1935 when POSTMAN leaped onto best
seller lists and Chandler was struggling to make ends meet
with pulp stories, it might have seemed a cheap, tawdry way
to sell books rather than an innovation. Maybe, maybe
not.
In later years, Howard Browne was apologetic about the
lesbian stuff in HALO IN BRASS.
In reading the old stuff, the thing that most often makes me
cringe is the abuse of women. I can still appreciate the
story if it is well done but the off-hand slapping around
some detectives routinely dole out to any woman within reach
makes my skin crawl. Yeah, I know it fit the context of the
time and of the characters, perhaps, but it still bothers
me.
For those who really want to be challenged in this
department, try reading the work of one of Chandler's best
friends Cleve Adams. He wrote the true, distilled hard stuff.
His main detective Rex McBride makes Mike Hammer seem like a
granola eating liberal. I am convinced that Adams did
everything he could to make him as unsympathetic and
unlikable as possible. It is too far over the line to be an
accident. Cringe? Let me quote an oft-quoted line from
McBride: "What this country goddamned well needs is a
Gestapo."
Richard Moore
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