Re: RARA-AVIS: Future of the Genre

From: Joy Matkowski ( jmatkowski1@comcast.net)
Date: 31 Aug 2002


The statement seems curiously dated to me, like companies that are still into quality circles because American companies must imitate Japanese corporate culture or perish.
    With the ongoing shrinkage or outright collapse of corporation after corporation, I'm encountering lots of middle-aged, middle-class, college-educated people who are newly minted independent operators or partners with one or two others. I know someone with a thriving salary administration business, someone who scans documents for a living, someone who carves songbirds. I don't personally know any PIs, but they are around; they're sued or present evidence every so often, according to the local newspapers.

Joy, self-employed, who'd have a whole lot of trouble submitting to a corporate yoke at this stage

Larry Newton < ldnewton2@attbi.com> noted:
> From the Thrilling Detective website, I saw the following (in the
"Thoughts
> on the Future of the Genre"
> http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/triv136.html page):
>
> "In the corporate culture of late-twentieth century America, an
independent
> operator is a loser. (Freelance writers like Block know this as well as
> anyone does.) The private eye, that seductive image of incorruptible
> independence, just doesn't correspond to our current sense of ourselves.
In
> 1950 Chandler wrote," The private eye is admittedly an exaggeration--a
> fantasy. But at least he's an exaggeration of the possible." Not anymore,
> I'm afraid.".."
>
> Anybody care to elaborate on this? Agree or disagree? What is the
"current
> sense of ourselves"? I believe that if we (as Americans, presumably)
don't
> see ourselves as independent operators and incorruptible, this is a
> sea-change! Have we Americans (presumably) altered our Weltanschauung
> ("world view")?
>

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