I've been doing a bit of reading lately about Stoicism and
other schools of philosophical thought from back in Greek and
Roman times. We've often talked about how crime writing, and
hardboiled writing in particular, is concerned with moral
behaviour, and I see lots of parallels. Some writers and
characters could be matched up with closely with Stoicism or
Cynicism or others, I think, and if some of you know your
ancient philosophy then I hope you can supply more
examples.
George Pelecanos's books in particular deal with how to be a
good person in a world filled with vice and temptation and
crime, and his people do the best they can, trying to live
honourable lives and not worrying what other people think,
and behaving in such a way that their children can learn by
example. Pelecanos does that explicitly. On the other hand,
something like Kent Harrington's DARK RIDE (about which more
next week when it's Kent Harrington Month) shows prime
examples of a) how not to raise a child and b) how not to
behave. I certainly don't mean it's a didactic book, but if
you wanted to show how moral failings lead to trouble, then
any noir book is jammed with examples. Not that that's why we
read them. (Or do we?)
Sam Spade was, he said, mostly concerned about who killed his
partner because that's what people expected him to do. Custom
said that when a detective's partner was killed, the
remaining detective had better solve the case, or else it was
bad for business. Some schools of thought said custom was
important, but others would say one's internal morals
outweighed that. Spade's morals and his behaviour are a
specially interesting case, and I'd have to reread the end of
THE MALTESE FALCON to remind myself of details before I say
more.
I know little about classical philosophy, but the related
treatments of morals there and in hardboiled and noir writing
really struck me. It's also another point that illustrates
the depth this kind of writing can have--not that we need
that proven, but there are folks who think all crime writing
is superficial by its nature.
Bill
-- William Denton : Toronto, Canada : www.miskatonic.org : www.frbr.org
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