I agree with those who commented negatively on the article on
female hardboiledness I summarized. It had all the earmarks
of "theory drunk" academic criticism: jargon, lack of
documentation, moral indignation, assumptions taken as true
but not researched or proved. But here's something that is
not "crap" about the classic crime novels of the 30s: Male
protagonists prefer a world where women do not influence
their moral choices or restrain their subversive sense of
justice. PIs like Archer, Marlowe, and Spade are very aware
of who they are and what they stand for. They accept their
isolation, and like singleness as much as they like going to
bed with, taking to, and enjoying the company of women. It's
a very important question. Two books, both from the late 40s
or 50s, state the implications beautifully: Gershon Legman's
_Love and Death, A Study in Censorship_ and Leslie Fiedler's
_Love and Death in the American Novel_.
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