>Just finished _It's Not A Pretty Sight_ and although I
found it generally
>entertaining there were parts that rubbed me the wrong
way. Specifically,
>I've got a thing about hardboileds that preach and/or
moralize a "life
>lesson". I don't read hardboiled fiction to be
instructed on the perils
>of child abuse, domestic violence or any other social
ill. As an
>emergency room social worker in our local county
hospital I am well aware
>of the devastation these things cause. Admittedly, as
a result I may be
>overly sensitive to the moralistic tendancies within
the genre.
>
>Maybe this opens up a larger question for discussion.
What are people's
>thoughts regarding these moralistic "life lessons"
some authors place in
>their writings?
If they're well done, I love 'em...I think people find stuff
preachy only
when it's way overdone (to the point where it becomes
obvious), or when it
threatens the way their way of thinking (and I don't just
mean when it
contradicts it).
You're right though, Roger, about "the moralistic tendancies
within the
genre", especially in private eye novels. There's often a
little moral
lesson in there somewhere, whether it's Marlowe's look at
honour in a
dishonourable world, Hammett's possibly socialist leanings
(never got that
one myself), Hammer's anti-Communist screeds, Amos Walker's
"everything
since 1939 sucks attitude," Travis McGee's ecological sermons
or Dan
Fortune's leftie agenda. For example, a sorta homophobic
friend finds
Hansen's Dave Brandstetter stuff "too preachy." I don't find
them that
preachy at all.
I haven't found any of the Haywood's I've read to be
particularly preachy,
although I thought some of the stuff in 'em was
eye-opening.
Mind you, one man's preaching is another man's telling it
like it is. I may
not always agree with the sermon, but if the book's well
done, I'll stay in
the pew 'til it's done. I guess I just like characters who
have opinions...
Oh, and isn't crime itself a "social ill?"
**************************************************
Kevin Smith
It's summertime, and the living is cheesy...What are you
reading this summer?
Tell us in this month's P.I. Poll on The Thrilling Detective
Web Site
http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective/
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