>There is the aspect of the
>corrupt city in almost every hardboiled/noir
book/film, but there is
>also the healing aspect of nature, e.g. in "The
Asphalt Jungle".
>That's not just hb-/noir; I think that's part of a
more general tendency
>in modernism: eg, Lawrence's city is 'the great wrong
place' while the
>country is presented as idyllic.
I've seen this phrase bandied about a lot lately. For the
benefit of those of us who aren't on a one-name basis with
every literary light who ever hung up a shingle, which
Lawrence came up with the phrase, and what's the context? And
what was the actual city?
By the way, the whole idea of a great wrong place is, at
least now, something of, if not a myth, at least a dated
notion. It's the soulless suburbs, with the endless cookie
cutter malls, herd mentality and bored kids with the dead
eyes that seem like the truly wrong places to me. And those
Stepford-Wives-type guarded communities are even worse.
As I've said before, I could see Spade and Marlowe's
descendants wearing Nikes, using a cellphone, or even being
married, but it's really hard to picture any of them mowing
the lawn.
Generally, the 'burbs have been the domain of mostly more
traditional mysteries and cozies. But suburban noir--think
about it. Now that would be cool to see.
By the way, for those of you whose wives allow you to buy it,
this month's PLAYBOY has, of all things, an article on
private eyes by Dick (Blue Bayou, Laughing Dog, etc.) Lochte.
Dick (good P.I. name, that) seems to have worked his way
through the PWA membership, including our own Wild Bill
Crider, for juicy quotes. I've haven't really read the
article yet, but it seems like a good solid quickie intro
to/overview of the genre.
I've no idea if the article is online, or not, but I doubt
it. And Bill, what's Miss March REALLY like?
Oh, and Mr. Blue said:
>You and I aren't going to agree about GP. We both
like him, but you like
>him the most, and you like him for things that I
believe are shortcomings in
>his work. You may even see liking him (without
reservation) as a
>qualification for early 21st century
hipness
Rest assured that I have reservations about almost
everything. I don't think liking Pelecanos is a mark of
hipness.And he's certainly far from reaching the level of
rammed-down-our-throats "hipness" of Jim Thompson in the
eighties. I don't think the general public knows or even
cares who he is. When I read Pelecanos' first few books, they
were all British editions because he was out of print in
North America.
Kevin Burton Smith The Thrilling Detective Web Site http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective/
Now: The last few days to vote for The Thrillies. Soon: The
P.I. Poll on Short Fiction, plus new stuff of our own.
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