The Big Book of Noir is a treasure of information. And the
opinions have weight because the authors, including several
Raravian gurus, know the subject *and* love it. I especially
liked Bill's piece on Whittington, an author whose work is
certainly good enough to remember, yet he's forgotten and out
of print.
On the topic of loving the topic*, nothing infuriates me more
than people writing reviews and criticism of a genre they
have little respect for. You can fill in the names.
Anecdotally, I've noticed a similar phenomenon in music
reviewers. The other day I was reading an article in which
the author called a certain song "a twelve-bar blues". Well,
the most casual listening shows that it's not. He also called
the singer a blues shouter, which he's not. He also referred
to that song as this singer's song, but this singer was not
Big Bill Broonzy. And he said that the singer represents the
Mississipi Delta tradition, but the singer was from Texas and
came from a totally different tradition. And so on. With the
revival, reviewers they are doing the same to
bluegrass.
[*I claim a first, etc.]
Regards, and sorry to ramble.
MrT
=====
"The difference between the right word and the almost right
word is the difference between lightning and the lightning
bug." Mark Twain
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