RARA-AVIS: Re: Urban Fiction

From: jacquesdebierue (jacquesdebierue@yahoo.com)
Date: 06 Jan 2009

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    --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Kevin Burton Smith <kvnsmith@...> wrote:
    >
    > Mark wrote:
    >
    > > But couldn't that be said of any genre? When you set the best
    > > practitioners up as the standard, most others are sure to disappoint.
    > > For example, there are far more average and below PI writers than
    > > there
    > > are Chandlers.
    > >
    > > As for the "urban," the same was said about the blaxplotation films,
    > > plus Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines, for that matter.
    >
    > True, but I think it's the combination of ineptitude with the
    > boneheaded stereotyping that got to me. White cops are racist? Black
    > people sell drugs? Women love sucking black dick? Who knew?
    >

    Yeah, when it's too much and it's not funny, it becomes a stupid cartoon. Not enough to sustain my interest anyway. More and more, if a story doesn't convince me, particularly the characters, I simply drop it. I ran into one several months ago (I suppose this novel was
    "fiction" in bookstore parlance) in which the author, a guy, was trying to imitate the rhythms of twentysomething girls who put out attitude, with all those halts to fix their hair... absolutely awful, lacked credibility, looked prosthetic on the page, etc. At least when Zappa imitated that type he made me laugh, he showed savvy. The same happens when a writer tries to portray a tough guy and falls into either video game territory or into reheated bad TV show territory. Not for me.

    How the hell did I get dragged into a rant?

    Best,

    mrt



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