--- "a.n.smith" <
ansmith@netdoor.com> wrote:
> I return to the fray with comments on
this:
>
> > I'm pretty sure most people on rara-avis
don't
> listen
> > to heavy metal music :) -- but that might be
a
> better
> > fit. The difference, to state
> > it briefly, is that one of them (Motorhead) is
an
> > authentic metal band, while the other is a
pop
> band
> > faking it the metal arena. One of them believes
in
> > their aesthetic, while the other is wrapping
the
> > aesthetic around them in an attempt, basically,
to
> > sell records.
>
> As one of those who does listen to metal (more
in
> younger days than now), it
> tends to me that looking at music as an analogy
for
> what happens is
> hard-boiled literature brings up something about
the
> author of the post.
Sadly, yes, it probably does. :) But I do think you can learn
things about one art form by comparing it to the other. At
least, interesting things sometimes call attention to
themselves.
> These are heavy, solid lines being drawn here,
as
> "authentic" comes up in
> the mix. But is anything a purely original genre
or
> style of music? They
> have historical backgrounds or mixing,
matching,
> cutting and pasting. And
> eventually, one can take aspects of
hard-boiled
> writing and aspects of
> different musical genres and make a blend
Yes, true, fair enough, all genres have their outside
influences, their historical backgrounds and marginal cases,
etc. I was speaking more in general terms than specific
cases. That said, I really do tend to see the
"artistic" world as a place where certain traditions or
aesthetics are practiced. So I basically see a given author
or book as being "within" a tradition or working outside of
one. That's not a value judgement, necessarily: it just gives
me a place to hang my hat.
Works for me, anyhow.
The blending moves things
> forward. Trying to hold
> onto the purity of a genre or musical style
brings
> to mind the image of
> someone trying to fight off a tidal wave with
a
> tennis racket.
Weeellll...I think I disagree with this. Yeah, a tradition
should be open to outside influences, but when you start
blending things too much, you come up with something
different. It might be great -- but it's just not the same
thing. "Moving forward", after all, is not an unmitigated
good: you might move yourself right out of the genre.
I'm actually not as conservative as I probably sound
--I like a lot of different authors for a lot of different
reasons. In fact, in some way I think I'm rather easy to
please -- because I don't think everything that's good has to
be hardboiled.
> Hard-boiled writing isn't as new a thing as it
was
> when the pulp writers
> launched the whole thing (and can we really
say
> Hammett wasn't doing it for
> money? That the aesthetic was less pure because
he
> was? Stretch it out
> through time--Chandler, Himes, Ross
Macdonald,
> Elmore Leonard--and ask the
> same question).
Hmmm. Well, I guess I'd say that my ideas only really come
into play once a tradition becomes aware of itself *as* a
tradition, so that would exclude the early trailblazers like
Hammett.
By the way, I was a little flip about the "making money"
comment -- wasn't it Dr. Johnson who said only a dunce
doesn't write for money? -- but there certainly are authors
and books that seem to get published only because they're
capitalizing on a previous writer's success (the many Parker
imitators that came out in the Eighties/early Nineties; the
current glut of female private eyes). Really, I had those
guys in mind.
>
> Not authoritative, of course. Just some
thoughts.
> The continued (and
> seemingly endless) search for a concrete
definition
> of the hard-boiled
> amuses me.
Well, I do think about these things a lot, though I really do
try to restrain myself here. Don't want to come off like the
drunk crackpot in the back of the bar. :) Like I said, I
think the process of definition is important, even if nobody
ever comes to an authoritative solution.
doug
===== Doug Bassett
dj_bassett@yahoo.com
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