> I think a lot of hardboiled detectives are Groucho
Marxists rather
> than Karl Marxists.
>
You're probably right, although you'll find a much
higher
concentration of Groucho Marxists per square inch in the
caper books.
<snip>
> I think the third person narrative is more hardboiled
than the first
> person one, as you can see in the fine example of
Dashiell Hammett's
> THE GLASS KEY and THE MALTESE FALCON, Paul Cain's THE
FAST ONE, and
> Raymond Chandler's first mystery story, "Blackmailers
Don't Shoot."
>
I've been thinking about this myself. Here's my take on the
reasons a
writer might use either.
The third person comes in several varieties. Third person
omniscient
doesn't seem very popular in HB. Third person limited,
shifting point
of view is used but doesn't seem as popular as third person
limited,
protagonist point of view, and first person.
As an example, Charles Willeford used third person shifting
POV in
Miami Blues, third person protagonist POV in The Way We Die
Now.
The first person and the third, protagonist pov have a lot in
common
also many differences. The first person allows an interior
dialog and
in some ways, metaphors are easier to construct because we
know we are
dealing with the narrator-as-character's thought
processes.
The third person allows a separate voice for the narrator
from the
protagonist allowing moral distance, opacity for the
character of the
protagonist, and more ways to construct suspense through
an
unpredictable protagonist.
Why anyone would pick one of these is largely a question of
taste and
the story they want to tell, although the third-shifting does
allow
for more layering and complexity.
One particularly interesting type of first person narrator is
the
psychopath/serial killer. Thompson's KILLER INSIDE ME,
Ellroy's
SILENT TERROR, AMERICAN PSYCHO ( I think by Ellis) are
examples.
They also illustrate the difficulty of telling a story with
a
dysfunctional narrator.
> Of course, you should write how characters feel only
by their
> actions and talkings, not by getting into their
brains. If you read
> above-mentioned masterpieces, you will get my drift.
Chandler tried
> to do the third person narrative in his first story,
but he must
> have found it very hard to accomplish. He soon
started to write in
> the first person narrative.
>
> These days, so-called "hardboiled" gumshoes talk too
much, brood too
> much, express their feelings too much, and justify or
rationalize
> their actions too much--to pad books? I know they
have feelings but
> please don't say it, just act it out and let readers
think how they
> feel.
>
> Real hardboiled detective stories is too tough to
write. There are
> very few writers practicing the real McCoy.
>
------------------------------
Fred Willard
fwillard@mindspring.com
http://www.mindspring.com/~fwillard
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