Mark wrote:
Although not taking up a lot of pages, a traumatic experience
in Lloyd Hopkins's childhood plays a crucial role in
explaining the character in Ellroy's Blood on the Moon.
Similarly, everything in Denise Mina's Garnethill stems from
the lead character's memories of childhood and her family's
reaction to her bringing them out in to the open. It just
occurred to me that she could be a character from a Lew
Archer novel, but without Archer.
*********** Geoffrey O'Brien, in HARDBOILED AMERICA, laid the
blame for an obsession with background and Freudian
motivations on Faulkner. He says it dominated a lot of
hardboiled and noir in the 40s, and it still seems pretty
darned popular as far as I can tell. Personally, I'm kind of
tired of it and rejoice at coming across a wicked hombre
character who isn't portrayed as a victimized product of his
environment. I have always liked Harris's Hannibal and I
can't tell you how disheartening it was to hear the
explanation for his peculiar diet.
This post is an addendum to what you said, Mark, and not
meant to imply that Ellroy's or Mina's childhood action is
either obsessive or Freudian. I have also taken some liberty
with O'Brien and possibly paraphrased and extrapolated more
than I should have.
miker
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