Mark,
>Sometimes the thrill comes from expecting the
unexpected, which is why
>Disneyworld's Space Mountain, which would be a kinda
rinky dink
>rollercoaster if it were outside, is so thrilling,
because it is in the
>dark and you can't see the drops and turns ahead. You
expect them, but
>don't know exactly when they will come. So the rider
is reassured that
>it meets all the expectations, but pleasantly
surprised by the way the
>expected thrills actually play themselves out, just
like the best genre
>fiction.
This is an excellent summary of why many of us read hb crime
fiction, but is it any different from real life? Presumably
the escapism part is in knowing that when the bad things
happen nobody gets hurt. I think this is where the Flitcraft
parable comes in. It's significant that Flitcraft didn't go
off and become a test pilot or a bomb disposal expert. Very
few people ever take real risks with their lives, and even
fewer continue exposing themselves to risk. Hard-boiled
detectives are different. They takes all kinds of risks, from
the financial risk of doing a low-paid job when they could
have something better to the obvious physical ones. In this
respect I think the roller-coaster analogy breaks down, since
that is more of a virtual risk - the roller-coaster rider,
like the video games player actually experiences anxiety (in
a safe, controlled environment), while the novel reader
enjoys risk vicariously (though that's not to say that
readers don't also feel anxious, excited etc.). This reminds
me of a stately home I visited years ago (and I can't for the
life of me remember the name) where there is a tunnel built
in the late 18th century to scare visitors. It has a slight
kink in it so that at a certain point you can't see either
end and everything does suddenly very dark. Very spooky. For
vicarious thrills they read Gothic novels.
Cheers Chris
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