08/03/2014

Sigh

CADS 67 arrived this week and it's all great stuff as usual. I could have done without Mike Ripley dissing traditional mysteries, though. He writes:

The idea of a novel as an artificial puzzle, a literary parlor game or an extended cryptic crossword did not appeal to me: then or now. I am firmly of the opinion that the so-called Golden Age of that sort of English detective story ended in 1949 when it was replaced by the board game Cluedo. Not, in my opinion, a moment to soon. ("Albert & I", p.11)

Traditional mystery fans often have to deal with such attacks. "Modernists", especially those of the hardboiled/noir persuasion, never waste an occasion to badmouth the Golden Age and what few "classicists" are still working today - even though they have largely won the war and most contemporary crime fiction is under the shadow of Raymond Chandler rather than Agatha Christie. Are they feeling insecure, or do they just have fun shooting an ambulance? I don't know. But I'm certainly surprised (and somewhat upset) to encounter such comments in a periodical that does so much for the cause of older mysteries. 

 

 

2 commentaires:

The Passing Tramp a dit…

Xavier, you should write a letter! The letter section in CADS is always great reading. It did seem surprising, considering the forum.

ThrillerbooksJournal a dit…

Hello!
I’m Giuseppe from ThrillerBooksJournal.com. I’m writing you just to let you know we’ve mentioned your site among the ones we suggest reading. You can find it here:

http://www.thrillerbooksjournal.com/crime-fiction-blogs-worth-investigating-part-6/

The post is just a way to thank bloggers who help us spreading the news about crime fiction and I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Of course, if you liked to mention it anywhere on your blog and your social profiles, or to add our site to your suggested one as well, it would be a pleasure for us.

Cheers, and keep it up with the great work!
Giuseppe

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