Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Hardboiled Dames


Words from the Monastery (anthony.dauer@erols.com)
Tue, 15 Jun 1999 09:16:13 -0400


Whether or not a woman can be a hardboiled protagonist ... granted, the more watered down the definition becomes the easier it's going to be for anyone to fit including Miss Marple ... I think the techno-thriller has already replaced the The Destroyer/Mercenary books ... or have they just evolved? I find Phillip Marlowe to be very optimistic, he's just not naive enough to live by that optimism ... it's his hope.

Kate Derie wrote:

> Tell me again, was the question whether a woman could write a hardboiled
> book, or whether a woman could be the protagonist in same? IMHO, the
> gender inverse of the romance novel is the men's adventure series--you
> know, The Destroyer, or The Mercenary, or whatever. Churned out in mass
> quantities according to a strict formula (which does not always exclude
> merit). Not *exactly* the same as hardboiled. My concept of hardboiled
> can be defined by what it is not--not sentimental, not pretentious, not
> polite, not optimistic. All gender-neutral concepts.

--
volente Deo,

Anthony Dauer Alexandria, Virginia
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