Thanks for the reminder of that sad scene from King
Suckerman.
Not hardboiled, but for my $$$ the best writing which uses
characters' passion for music as a way to reveal character is
Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. There, the characters'
obsessings and arguments about music
(including in which section/bin to put the music) illuminates
character, as it motivates action (even if a lot of the
action is talky, these guys lead talky lives. In fact, the
book is about how they talk too much . . . .and use their
music fanaticism and hair-splitting to avoid real emotion and
to avoid living their lives. Their aestheticism and snobbery
is an escape, but also deeply revealing of character. In High
Fidelity the lead character is constantly making lists - his
Top 10 Desert Island albums, his Top 10 make-out albums, Top
10 Breakup Songs, etc. Sure, these lists tell us much about
the kind of music the guy likes, and that he has great taste
and deep knowledge of pop music. But ultimately (and this is
Hornby's point) it tells us that this is a guy who makes
lists. Who makes lists as a way to avoid feeling the pain of
his life.
That's why the King Suckerman/Hendrix scene is so powerful.
Musical passion motivates action which reveals character. But
what's revealed about Marcus Clay isn't the music he listens
to and cares about - instead, the music he listens to and
cares about leads him to an act which reveals his sadness,
compassion, respect for the dead, friendship - in other
words, his character. Which doesn't really have anything to
do with music.
Sure, listing a character's musical likes and dislikes does
tell us something about a character, as does the car they
drive, the clothes they wear, the books they read, the beer
they drink. "He liked Heineken" or
"He listened to Marvin Gaye" may help us locate a character
in time, and socio-economically. (As opposed to "He liked
grog" or "He liked John Phillip Sousa.")
But many individuals who are very different from each other,
and who behave differently (or would behave differently) from
each other in similar circumstances are united in their
preference for Michelob or fondness for Marvin Gaye. In other
words, their beer or music tastes doesn't really tell us much
about their character in a deep sense. Though that's what the
marketers and Madison Avenue salesmen want us to believe -
that if we drink Heineken or drive a Saab, we must be a
certain kind of person.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Robison" <
zspider@gte.net> To: <
rara-avis@icomm.ca> Sent: Friday, March 28, 2003 6:04
PM Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: The House of Hard-boiled
> Mark Sullivan
> > At his best, he already does this. There was a
running bit in King
> > Suckerman where Marcus Clay and one of his
clerks argued about where
> > Jimi Hendrix's albums should be filed in the
record store. I found it
> > incredibly moving when Marcus moved Hendrix
from the rock to soul after
> > the clerk, his friend, was killed.
>
> ****************
> I need to read some of those earlier ones. I've only
read THE SWEET
> FOREVER and SHAME THE DEVIL. I liked them both, the
first a little
> better than the second. I've got RIGHT AS RAIN
sitting on the shelf
> waiting on me to drag my butt out of the
past.
>
> miker
>
-- # To unsubscribe from the regular list, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # majordomo@icomm.ca. This will not work for the digest version. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 30 Mar 2003 EST