I took Kerry's football metaphor as meaning that while they
might be rooting for different teams, or political parties,
they at least agree on the rules of the game. And that
applies to PIs, for instance. They are still working within
the rules of a capitalist society.
This is my problem with the idea of hardboiled, or
even Hammett, being Marxist lit. While a PI's ironic
detachment may lead to his or her seeing a lot of what goes
on within capitalist society with skepticism, it does not
make him or her a Marxist. Even if the critique of society
jibes well with a Marxist analysis, it does not mean a Marsit
solution to that corruption is being proposed. Individual
capitalists are exposed, and a certain degree of corruption
is presupposed, but rarely is the entire system attacked. I
can't think of a single PI who is out to foment revolution.
Not even Michael Collins's PIs, who often do go on to expose
the system itself as corrupt, and not just the individuals
within it.
PIs work as individuals, not collectives. And they'd probably
set themselves just as far apart from the power structure in
a Marxist society as they so often do in a capitalist
one.
Mark
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
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