I originally wrote:
> >Actually, part of the reason you don't see much
foreign crime fiction
>>is that, when it comes to crime fiction,
supposedly Americans don't
>>like reading about other cultures, unless it's
some twee, mythical,
>>cosy England, or it's written by an
American.
and Paul replied:
>Oh, I dunno.
>
>Although I usually agree with what my frozen northern
friend has to say, I
>think I'd have to demur on this kind of blanket
statement.
Which is why I said "supposedly," my inbred cracker
pal.
>How about Rankin? Bartholomew Gill? The Morse books?
Or even part-time
>beaverite Peter Robinson...I think Kev's assumption
that concern for
>what the readers want in the Uessa
>has any bearing upon what gets published is a little
naive. Since when did
>taste have anything to do with the Fall
lists?
Well, certainly no more naive and certainly far less of a
blanket statement than assuming all European hard-boiled
writers "are pretty limpdicked imitations of the real deal"
or that "Such casualness (as evident in HB) is not natural to
Europeans." Such statements go a long way towards explaining
why Americans are often seen as being less accepting and
tolerant of other cultures.
And anyway, there's plenty of other cultures beyond Europe.
Fact is, you only mention the handful of foreign crime
writers who ARE promoted heavily in the States. You don't
mention those who aren't. And that's my point. You don't know
about them. But there's plenty. Mark just skims the
surface.
>The practitioners of EuroCF, the good ones -- Rankin,
Patricia Hall,
>Robinson, Margaret York, Minette Walters -- who are
successful at their
>trade have no problems finding a publisher over here.
For one reason.
>They're pretty fucking good. Not HB, but they can't
be expected to be. AND
>THEIR AUDIENCE DOESN'T EXPECT IT!
>
>They're Euros.
>
>HB's an American thing. They wouldn't understand.
And, most likely, neither
>would their readers.
Sorry, Juri and Etienne, Paul says you have to leave now. Can
Bill and I stay since most Americans don't seem to know
Canada is a whole other country? Or do we have to leave and
take Ross Macdonald with us?
Look, I'm not trying to pick a fight, but there's an awful
lot of good hard-boiled out there that most American crime
fiction fans just haven't got a clue about. Imprints like
Mask Noir and No Exit in the U.K., and Serie noir in France,
continue not only to churn out powerful original hard-boiled
from around the world (including the U.S.), but often keep in
print stuff American readers have long forgotten, or never
even knew existed. Thanks to those European publishers who, I
guess, "don't understand hard-boiled," I was able to discover
George Pelecanos, Wade Miller, Jonathan Latimer and several
other list favourites who were out of print (some for
decades) in the States. And strolling through French
bookstores here in Montreal you can catch a hint of the
worldwide hunger for hard-boiled. Judging from the racks,
Ellroy, Mosley, Pelecanos, Jerome Charwyn and Block are very,
very popular. So surely someone out there besides Americans
"gets" it. Unless thousands and thousands of people worldwide
are in the habit of regularly buying books they don't
understand.
There's a whole hard-boiled world out there, whether you
choose to close the drapes or not.
Kevin Burton Smith The Thrilling Detective Web Site http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective/
New fiction from Anthony Neil Smith and Jochem Vandersteen, a
Reader's Survey and Talkin' 'Bout Shaft. Can you dig
it?
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