Re: RARA-AVIS: The Red Menace

From: Michael Robison ( zspider@gte.net)
Date: 24 Jan 2003


Mark wrote:
> You have mixed up your numbered wars. Farewell to Arms was about WW I and
> was written well before For Whom the Bell Tolls.
and:
> We have said Fleming isn't hard boiled.

********* Well that's pretty darned embarrassing. Thank you for catching me on that. And even though Jim Doherty has stated that James Bond isn't hardboiled because he fails the colloquial test, I think that Bond made it onto our top 100 characters, didn't he? I understand Jim's exception to Bond being hardboiled, but I'm not sure I agree on it. I recently noted some colloquial comments Bond made in CASINO ROYALE, while freely admitting that other times he comes off as an elitist.

I would also note that even if Bond is not hardboiled, that would not necessarily rule out Fleming's books as hardboiled, would it? Although describing characters as being hardboiled is reasonable, there is also a hardboiled style of writing, too, which doesn't absolutely require a hardboiled main character. O'Hara's APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA pops into mind as an example.

miker

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