Re: RARA-AVIS: women PIs/fantasy worlds

From: JIM DOHERTY ( jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com)
Date: 22 Aug 2001


Mario,

Re your comment below:

> Sughrue? Milodragovich? Dave Brandstetter? Amos
> Walker?
> Nameless? Marshall Tanner? Stefanos? Clete Purcell?
> Kearny
> and associates?
>
> None of these guys strikes me as particularly
> heroic...
> most of them are tough, but they are not admirable
> people
> or idealistic people.

You may have a point about Crumley's characters, and I haven't gotten around yet to Tanner, Purcell, or Stefanos.

Walker, however, is a Detroit version of Marlowe, as close (and saitsfying) a mimic as Howard Browne's Paul Pine, so if Marlowe is a hero, than so is Walker. Aside from that, he's a hero because he's courageous, principled, and willing to stand up for his principles. In other words he has both physical courage and, more importantly, moral courage.

Ditto Brandstetter.

Ditto, in a major way, Nameless.

The DKA guys are honest businessmen, but they're not PI fantasy figures; they're technically accurate representations of what real PIs are like within the framework of fiction. Leaving that aside Kearney is loyal, honest, and courageous. So are most of his operatives. They may not be "heroes," in the Marlowe sense, but they are generally admirable.

JIM DOHERTY

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