Re: RARA-AVIS: The American Way (was serial killers)

From: a.n.smith ( ansmith@netdoor.com)
Date: 04 Mar 2000


> Harris and Oates aren't for your average discount bookstore reader, both
> require a far more sophisticated individual leaning towards the
intellectual
> who can appreciate the depth of their work which is more fictionalized
> reality than make believe heroics.

Well, an obvious Harris fan.

I wonder what happened to the sophistication and reality in Hannibal, with the pigs and the no-face man, and the end...oh, what a terrible ending. Sohistication, or an obvious attempt at irony to see just how gullible the bestseller buying public is (and he was certainly aware this book would sell well)? I would like to see a return to form, and it might require him to dump these particular characters. Of course, my opinion doesn't make a dent in the guy's bankroll.

And I actually read fiction for many reasons, one of which is for make-believe heroics. Reality bombards us so much that we can hardly tell if it's reality or not anymore (a variation on Baudrillard's idea, perhaps). I want the feelings of reality on fiction, as far as characters and situations, but I can also suspend belief on some things if the author's material is compelling enough. That didn't happen for me in Hannibal.

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