Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Vachss: Robison, 2

From: Duane Spurlock ( duane1spur@yahoo.com)
Date: 12 Jan 2006


foxbrick < foxbrick@yahoo.com> wrote:
   
  <<
  Well, none of this is so much leftist as Pomo, or common of the most marginalized of society...the Miserabilist Mike Hammer. The Angry Boho Hammer. But not much of an Anarchist (way too into hierarchy for that) nor Leninist (who are Real Big on family and puritanism, in most instances), nor certainly not too Social-Democratic (just way too messy).

It's all a bit like saying Ted Nugent's a lefty cause he has hippy hair.

But, yeah, the Burke novels do have lots of evil white guys. Including Burke, the hero.
>>
   
  The politics of noir or hard-boiled is a big tangled issue, I think. I mean, look at it: the genre is usually classified simplistically as an outsider (the P.I.) working within a corrupt social (the rich guys in power, like General Sternwood in THE BIG SLEEP, various characters from Lew Archer novels) and political (the cops in THE MALTESE FALCON, any politician from RED HARVEST) culture. On the face of it, in many cases the PI (or the PI proxy, like Burke) looks like a white male conservative (seeking answers that will restore order, with "order" usually assumed to be a conservative trope) wrestling for a liberal social justice ethic (overcoming corruption, secret crimes, wrongs to the psychic/economic/social fabric of a person/family/city/organization). That's all rather general and simplistic, and doesn't even apply across the board to all HB or noir, but I think dissecting the political ... what's the word...essence(?) of the genre(s) could carry a discussion thread for
  years.
   
  - Duane Spurlock
  The Pulp Rack
    New: "'We Die In Glory!' A Look at the Air-War Pulps" by Dale Walker at this URL:
  http://pulprack.com/arch/2006/01/we_die_in_glory.html
  (includes some cover scans!)
  www.pulprack.com

   
   

                
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