On Thu, 7 Sep 2000, Kevin Burton Smith wrote:
> Doesn't Marlowe at one point say something like "He
snarled and
> called me something nasty." Would that sentence
really have been
> better if Chandler had written: "He called me a
motherfucking
> asshole."
No, because then it wouldn't be Marlowe ... there are people
today who wouldn't repeat the slur and then there are those
ornery mutha fuckers like myself who would. It's one thing
when you do it for personality and another when you want it
censored for political correctness ... thought should be a
self-policed action not the decision of a committee. Having
worked with men who qualify as real bad ass mutha fuckers ...
Navy SEALS, Green Berets, etc., that's how some of them speak
and characters based on them wouldn't be realistic if it
wasn't there ... at least in the dialogue. There's a
difference between narration and dialogue ... Marlowe gets
away with editing the words because he's the one saying them,
but if we're talking about dialogue and it was censored it
wouldn't be realistic and thus wouldn't be hard-boiled
either.
The easily offended should stick with cozies anyway ... no
use offending their delicate sensibilities with reality.
;)
-- Anthony Dauer http://www.adau.net/judas_ezine/
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