Jim Doherty wrote:
>Years later, in THE GIRL HUNTERS, we find out that
she
>was not just an ex-cop, but some kind of sub
rosa
>super-fed, who, in the course of a case, gets
called
>back into service, sent on a deep cover assignment
in
>the Soviet Union (she's presumed dead all this
time,
>and Hammer goes into an emotional tailsping
blaming
>himself), and gather enough intel, we are led
to
>believe, that she damned near wins the whole Cold
War
>single-handedly.
You know where you go to find outlandishly plotted melodrama
of the type you lay out above, Jim?
Soap operas.
>No THAT'S a strong woman. You may argue that
it's
"comic-book" strong, and I won't dispute that, but strong is
strong. I can't imagine Effie Perrine, Lucy Hamilton, or even
Della Street managing to cripple, if not quite bring down,
the whole Soviet espionage system.
No one could. That's why they call it "cartoony."
>I'd argue that no one who was truly a
mysogynist
would, or could, create a character at once so strong and so
sympathetic.
Sure they could. They would probably just have a real problem
making them believable. That's Spillane's problem here as
well. Now, you can argue that "heroic" and believable don't
naturally go hand in hand, but with all due respect, there's
"willing suspension of disbelief," and there's stuffing your
ears with cotton and putting your blinders on!
>That may not make him any more to your taste, but
that's a different matter.
It doesn't. Say what you will about Spillane. His writing has
not stood the test of time very well. Read a chapter of "The
Maltese Falcon," then one of "The Long Goodbye," one from
"Build My Gallows High," one from "The Phantom Lady," and
then one from "The Galton Case," then read a random one from
either "I, The Jury," or "The Girl-Hunters." There's a
serious drop-off there, energetic prose or not.
YMMV-
Brian
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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