At 01:32 PM 4/23/02 -0700, you wrote:
>Hard-boiled crime fiction is the fiction of
the
>working class.
I'm going to climb halfway out on Jim's limb here ( keeping
an eye on his saw hand) and agree there are significant
working class atmopherics to hardboil. Class can be fluid and
speech patterns are characteristic, but not defining. That
colloquialism branch is getting shakier with each defense. I
think that hardboil implies a workmanlike approach to life,
as if it's a tough job, but somebody has to get on with it.
The genre is an exploration of what this means as much as a
definition of it. Surely a good, hardboiled story can be made
about an unexpected character rising to the gritty
occasion.
I believe what defines this "workmanlike" approach is the
attitude toward death. Hardboil or noir recognizes the
inevitability of death, and entertains the possibility that
this may be a good thing. Cosies are fantasies that make
light of death to reassure readers. Horror also fantasizes
death, shocking readers now so they may be less frightened by
the real thing. Romance, if it recognizes death at all,
treats it as a bad thing, something to be overcome. Then
cross-genres confuse the muddle. But western society largely
denies death. We talk of "saving lives" as if this could be
more than postponing death. Religions promise eternal life in
exchange for good behaviour. And we try not to dwell on death
in our day to day lives.
Hardboil values life, but looks death straight on. It
recognizes the irony that life consumes life in order to
live, a particular challenge to any community that values the
individual over the collective. The question for members of
such a society is: What makes life meaningful if we're going
to die anyway? This question is most important to the
powerless, people who are not among society's winners, though
the powerful are notoriously unsentimental when
challenged.
Kerry
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Literary events Calendar (South Ont.) http://www.lit-electric.com
The evil men do lives after them http://www.murderoutthere.com
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