Kevin wrote:
"But for every writer who uses it well, there are a thousand
hacks and pretentious gits out there who miss the point
entirely. . . ."
Names! We need names! Not necessarily of the "thousand hacks
and pretentious gits" (not that I'm above cheap shots,
myself), but at least of the writers who handle violence
well. Then again, maybe we do need names of the hacks, as
counter examples.
I think we all agree that some do it well, some more poorly,
but I think we need some specific examples if we are going to
discuss what well and poorly mean in the genre.
I'd also like to float another idea, that reception of
violence depends upon the era. For instance, I've read enough
about Mike Hammer to know that the violence (and sex) were
pretty shocking back in the day. It now seems kind of tame
(at least partly because Spillane opened things up). On the
other hand, many of us are now more sensitive about violence
against women and might find some older scenes far worse than
they were initially perceived.
I think the same goes for racial depictions -- for instance
the argument over whether or not Marlowe, and by extension
Chandler, were racist for their use of certain words and
depictions. I would say it's one thing for someone to
casually use the language (not claiming Chandler chose words
casually, but that he did not question certain assumptions of
his place in society) and preconceptions of their own time
and quite another for someone to choose to set all of their
books in a past time so they can trade on those ideas. Again,
some do it well (Mosley, who explores the history of race in
the LA) and some less so (Ellroy, who I now believe sets his
books in the racist/homophobic past of that same LA in order
to have a ready excuse to use "bad words" -- it's not me,
it's the characters and the times -- well, who chose to focus
exclusively on those characters in those times?). I believe
Mosley examines racial division, while Ellroy increasingly
exploited it while wallowing in it.
It will be interesting if I live long enough to see what
taken for granted ideas of our time will prove to be
troublesome when read in a then old book or interview.
Mark
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