RE: RARA-AVIS: Profesionals and amateurs

From: JIM DOHERTY ( jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com)
Date: 24 Feb 2003


Mario,

Re your comments below:

> There are counterexamples to everything: Easy
> Rawlins is an
> amateur. Mouse may be said to be a professional, but
> he's
> crazy. Does he count? Who else is a pro in the
> Rawlins
> series? Mofass?
>
> And how about Socrates Fortlow? He's not a
> professional at
> anything, except he was a jailbird for a long time.
>
> Both series are very hardboiled, with amateurs as
> protagonists.

As I've mentioned in other posts, I was remarking on a general tendency, not a hard and fast rule. Just as there are amateurs in hard-boiled, on both sides of the law, there are professionals, on boths sides, in the "cozy."

That said, in his first appearance, Easy Rawlins describes himself as a private detective, who looks back on the case described in DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS as his apprenticeship.

Granting that he doesn't have a license, I would argue that it's not a license that makes him a professional, but the fact that he accepts pay for carrying out investigations.

JIM DOHERTY

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