RARA-AVIS: Chemical Dependence and Hard-Boiledness
PhantomPhan (40730@www1.utech.net)
Sat, 15 Aug 1998 10:35:32 -0700
Interesting question. I suppose that kind of conduct gives them
the edge
they're supposed to have. One of Wambaugh's novels, I forget
the title but
it was about the California Gold Coast and featured this
alcoholic PI,
revolved around this guy's alcoholism as the bad gal used it to
further her
purposes. I recall that the scenes involving his excessive
drinking and the
thoughts running through his addled brain were riveting and
disturbing, as
was his encounters with his drinking buddies. Wambaugh painted
a very
negative image of alcohol in this novel and the DTs this guy
went through
were really ugly. His redemption was a good read. I considered
this novel
both a good whodunit and a morality lesson in the perils of
excess.
Drinking/drugs in HB seems to me to be the standard in the
genre but there
are some good PIs out there that don't drink for the wrong
reasons. Cynthia.
Words from the Monastery wrote: Do hard-boiled types have to
drink or have
some other chemical dependance to be hard-boiled? Is a
reformed heavy
drinker enough ... or does the booze and/or drugs make or
break the
hard-boiledness of the character?----volente Deo,
Anthony
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