Jeff Vorzimmer wrote:
The very first page I ever read of Woody Haut (Pulp Culture)
referred to Joe McCarthy as the senator from Minnesota. To me
this didn't bode well for the facts in the rest of the book.
Such a obvious blunder on the first page is usually enough
for me to stop reading right there, but I persevered a bit,
but the factual mistakes just piled up and I eventually
tossed it aside.
************* I found his lack of attention to the accuracy
of the details disconcerting, but my big complaint was that
his main thesis, that hardboiled and noir between 1945 and
1960 are driven by the peculiar paranoia of the Cold War, to
be weak. In many places Haut damaged his case with
far-reaching declarations leaning towards absurd. His
parallel between Homes's BUILD MY GALLOWS HIGH and the
ongoing communist witch hunt:
"Here Bailey aligns himself with those working against the
social order. His situation was not unlike that of the 6.6
million people who, between March 1947 and December 1952,
would be investigated for alleged communist links."
In Haut's eyes, Fearing's THE BIG CLOCK and Gresham's
NIGHTMARE ALLEY are mirrors of Cold War paranoia. He suggests
that characters in Thompson, Goodis, and McCoy novels act
badly because they are "faced with cultural apprehensions
regarding the 'Red Menace' and nuclear devastation..." I find
the connection tenuous.
My biggest objection to PULP CULTURE is that rather than take
an honest and unflinching look at the material and allow it
to lead where it will, I suspect him of bending the works to
fit a personal political agenda. At best this is
self-serving, at worst it is dishonest.
Slipping off the soap box and shuffling back to Jeff's
comment about the many inaccuracies, I quote from PULP
CULTURE:
"In THE BIG SLEEP, Philip Marlowe bemoans the fact that he's
had no business in a month, only to receive
$100 merely for taking Marriott's money to a designated spot
where he's to exchange it for some precious stones."
miker
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 07 Nov 2004 EST