--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Brian Evankovich"
<briane1911a1@h...> wrote:
> I found the essay most refreshing and maybe even a
little inspiring, but I
> wish the so-called status quo Stansberry refers to
were as real as he, and
> others expressing his point of view, would like to
believe, because it
> certainly doesn't exist in my unstable life, and
it's nice reading stories
> where everything gets fixed in the end. That being
said (and at the risk of
> running a little off-topic), as one of those
yet-to-be-discovered scribes,
> I'm afraid I'm more interested in making a living
than standing current
> conventions on their head. Which proves Stansberry's
point. :( As soon as I
> don't have to work anymore, we'll see..... but I
think it's possible to
> upset the genre while also writing within it. I
think Hammett and Chandler
> were able to do that just fine, have quasi-happy
endings, and include in
> some of the fatalism - if you will - that Stansberry
advocates. --Brian
Indeed, the conventions of the PI genre, for example, have
proven loose enough to allow for great work, back then and
now. It's not the conventions that can cheapen a genre, but
the types of characters and situations. If the latter become
clich鳬 or pander to certain groups (females or yuppies, for
example), the literary value of the thing rapidly goes down.
I will gladly accept a PI with the conventional bottle in the
conventional drawer and the conventional blue jay cavorting
outside the grimy window... provided the author gives me
strong characters and situations and a gripping, realistic
story.
Best,
MrT
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