> Not far from noir mystery ladies, there is a study
made by Catherine A.
> Thompson :
> FROM MARLOWE TO MILLHONE: THE FEMINIZATION OF THE
HARD-BOILED
> DETECTIVE.
> This is the text of her thesis to obtain her Master
of Arts degree at
> the University od New Brunswick (Canada) in
1997.
> You may download the full text at my Web site :
HARD-BOILED MYSTERIES
> Go to http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6384
> and select the chapter : Women in HB
literature
There are some interesting and even provocative points she
raises, but sometimes you just have to wonder. While it's
well-written and often seems impeccably researched, other
times you just have to roll your eyes. My favourite part was
this:
In discussing Kinsey Millhone's carrying of a gun in her
purse, Thompson concludes that "The gun can then be seen as a
'clitoral' symbol, rather than a phallic one: it is a "little
automatic" carried inside the labial briefcase and owned and
operated by a woman. Millhone is not Philip Marlowe in
drag, carrying a gun to make up for her "lost" penis: she is
a woman and proud of it. "
Doncha just love academics?
And here's a little clue to where the author's coming
from:
> I exclude contemporary male writers of hard-boiled
detective fiction
> from this study on the basis that they continue to
support the
> patriarchal ideals espoused by the originators of
the genre in their
> own work, despite their attempts to "liberalize" the
genre.
Isn't that generous of her?
She also excludes demonstrating any consistent first-hand
knowledge of the genre's history, beyond what she's
apparently picked up from secondary sources, conveniently
ignoring hard-boiled women writers and hard-boiled women
detectives (who may or may not have been created by women) of
the past who preceded Muller, and therefore don't fit her
theory.
And you just have to giggle at the notion that "(Agatha)
Christie was... the first to create a female detective in...
1930."
The mind boggles.
Kevin Burton Smith The Thrilling Detective Web Site 75 Years
of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon http://www.thrillingdetective.com
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 11 Apr 2005 EDT