RARA-AVIS: American Sidekicks

From: Mbdlevin@aol.com
Date: 14 Nov 2001


Bill Crider writes:

<< Parker has a PhD in English. Considering when
 he recieved the degree, I'd be willing to bet he read Leslie Fiedler's
 LOVE AND DEATH IN THE AMERICAN NOVEL >>

I was about to pipe up on this one. Part of that argument too is that the sidekick is the OTHER in some racial way (or maybe not): Bumppo (aka Hawkeye...Hawk / Private Eye) and Chingachgook (sp?), Queequag and Ishmael
(Ahab is the psycho), Huck and Jim, Kirk and Spock. Hard-boiled mixed race pairs? In Simmons' Hardcase, the regular black gangster has a white psycho to do torture and knife work. There's John Ball (Heat of Night--haven't read it, and not quite a sidekick thing, of course). Others in the lit? Now a marketing staple in movies too: Gibson/Glover, etc. etc. Doug

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