In a message dated 7/31/03 5:03:40 PM,
jgertzma@earthlink.net writes:
<< can the genre be
considered to subordinate a compassionate,
community centered female
solution
to a stoic, aggressive response of the male hero who
must act alone,
outside the law, and in isolation from females,
even those he admires? >>
Remove the words "female" and "male"
from your question and you have part of your answer.
Hard-boiled heroes (since Hammett & Chandler) have shown
compassion, but IMO no hard-boiled protagonist looks for
"community based solutions" OTHER THAN those who arise from
some police procedural novels (Don Harstad comes to mind). As
for isolation from the opposite sex, the genre is loaded with
men and women protagonists who develop long lasting
relationships with their love interests.
I guess I can't buy your summing up
of the genre in either definition. At one time hard-boiled
may have been close to your description, but I think the
walls crumbled long ago, and today's male protagonist may be
as compassionate and as happily unisolated as John Lutz's Ray
Carver or as aggressive and solitary as Donald Westlake's
Parker.
As for women protagonists, Kinsey
Milhone is no more compassionate and community centered than
Lew Archer, though she's a bit more social, and Laura
Lippman's books show us a woman who is tough, aggressive,
compassionate, and interested in romantic relationships that
have legs.
Jim
Blue
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