Nick Travers of Ace Atkins's "Leavin' Trunk Blues" in 46
pages has managed to put a way some whiskey in both the now
and the back story of the narrative:
"The cold stung Nick's face and hands as he stepped onto the
Union Station platform with his army duffel bag and great
expectations. He buttoned the wool overcoat and pulled a
black watch cap down on his head as he exhaled a long stream
of smoky breath tainted with whisky. It was early Thursday
morning, December 21, and the booze and tight quarters hadn't
been kind to his old body. He felt sore and stiff as he
followed a trail of people into the terminal."
Doesn't say much for the "hardboiled" protagonist ... "who is
neither tarnished nor afraid." Hard to see how anyone
including Marlowe isn't tarnished or showing their fear by
such a strong need for alcohol in their daily lives. In
Marlowe's defense, even with prohibition and all the other
evils of drink sermons, his era appears to be far more
forgiving of the functional alcoholic than today's society
with the Rat Pack's almost mythical partying and the martini
lunches, etc. Therapy and the graying of the Boomers have
made it less glamorous.
In "A Murder of Honor," Robert Andrew's protagonist Frank
Kearney and his partner Jose Phelps don't pull any all night
drinking binges that the narration reveals, but they do have
a drink or two throughout the story ... coffee has a far
higher place in their collective thoughts as the story
progresses. Which is not surprising in DC where there are as
many independents and small chains to balance out the
Starbucks that you can almost see from each other.
All four are hardboiled even if some have potentially weak
personalities through addictive behaviors for they are all
men of honor ... "by instinct, by inevitability, without
thought of it, and certainly without saying it."
Alcohol would help you stay numb to the events around you ...
down these mean streets a man must stagger who is not himself
a mean drunk.
-- Anthony Dauer Alexandria, VA
Judas ... a stretch of the mean streets on the web
http://www.adau.net/judas_ezine/
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 15 Apr 2001 EDT