RARA-AVIS: Re: Urban Fiction

From: Gonzalo Baeza (gbaeza@gmail.com)
Date: 07 Jan 2009

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    --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, DJ-Anonyme@... wrote:

    > Still, my comments on generalizations referred more to those who
    > responded to Kevin who admitted to basing their dismissals on the
    covers
    > in the urban section of Borders or B&N. I agree, those are some
    pretty
    > sleazy and/or nasty covers. But if I based my reading on what I
    thought
    > of cover artwork, I never would have read anything from Dennis
    McMillan.

    I am one of those that responded to Kevin but my comment has nothing to do with morals. Wertham and the other visceral reactions to pulp fiction you cited were intrinsically moralistic. I'm not shocked nor horrified by what transpires in the urban fiction novels I've skimmed through. I just don't think the writing is very good. Likewise, the covers don't horrify me. I just think they look cheap and derivative. The Hard Case Crime covers, which harken to an era of cheap paperbacks, look classy and creative in contrast.

    -Gonzalo.



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