tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post4330047659674064927..comments2024-03-28T10:31:55.774-07:00Comments on The Passing Tramp: Blast from the Past I: The British Golden Age of Detection's Deposed Crime KingsThe Passing Tramphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-75203399502098633782017-12-04T23:32:33.027-08:002017-12-04T23:32:33.027-08:00Yes, Moira, I feel we've only recently been ma...Yes, Moira, I feel we've only recently been making some real headway. For me the PD James books, meaning so disrespect to her, was a disappointment, because it looked like to a large extent a rehash of all the old attitudes, based on too limited a reading--and the Worsley book was much worse! And too many academic monographs were running in the same old circles (though there have been some very good studies too).<br /><br />Blogs likes yours (and others were where a lot of the interesting rediscoveries were being made.<br /><br />Now with the British Library and Collins embracing the work of Martin Edwards and John Curran and reprinting so many books, it's a huge change. I do what I can too of course! But I never expected to be overtaken by actual events so quickly. This six year old essay opens a window on a different world in significant respects. There's been a sort of critical perestroika, and this little corner of the literary world has felt the change.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-88278968398073255462017-12-04T23:25:39.914-08:002017-12-04T23:25:39.914-08:00Thanks, Xavier, I miss the old GAD discussions. F...Thanks, Xavier, I miss the old GAD discussions. Fun days, before people started listening to us, actually, and it all got so serious! The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-72409780013281160662017-12-04T03:51:43.487-08:002017-12-04T03:51:43.487-08:00Really enjoyed reading this Curt. Anyone who knows...Really enjoyed reading this Curt. Anyone who knows the time and the subject would see the truth of what you say, it's an excellent roundup. What annoys me is passing comments in quite respectable publications by people who obviously THINK they know about crime fiction - but don't. They are responsible for many silly and inaccurate comments - for a start they don't really know what is considered to be the Golden Age, and they certainly have no idea of the timeline of writers - that Sayers stopped so early, and thus barely overlapped with most of the work of the others for example. Or they think that GA crime writers never tackled difficult subjects. Anyway, good to know you are always fighting the good fight!Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-42848165916294028362017-12-03T09:27:15.998-08:002017-12-03T09:27:15.998-08:00Great essay then, great essay now. I read it in CA...Great essay then, great essay now. I read it in CADS when it first came out and was impressed (though not surprised, since I've known you for two decades now) by the breadth of your knowledge and the soundness of your analysis. I didn't think then and still don't think now that you were "unnecessarily tendentious on the gender issue" - you were fighting a consensus, and consensuses are fought against with knives, not spoons. Xavierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05702919450638993709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-83486892998534358272017-11-30T03:16:53.488-08:002017-11-30T03:16:53.488-08:00Indeed, there are many interesting writers from th...Indeed, there are many interesting writers from the period, why would one want to confine oneself to a mighty handful? And, is your first side note ironic? I know the Lampreys have their detractors! I have my moments where I am exasperated with Ngaio, but I think Lampreys is a superb book. I think it's one that, Ngaio, though an evasive person like so many crime writers from the period, really put much of herself into, making it fascinating reading.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-4956437075911864552017-11-30T03:12:55.737-08:002017-11-30T03:12:55.737-08:00Agree about the political question too. James is ...Agree about the political question too. James is certainly right about some, even many, writers of the period, but there was more variety to the political ideology, as well as the aesthetic, of the Golden Age. It's just the same basic mistake of relying so heavily on the Crime Queens, who simply can't be taken as absolutely representing the whole period, if one wants to be accurate about it. It's ahistorical to just look at the Crime Queens.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-87264467746599388642017-11-30T03:08:39.243-08:002017-11-30T03:08:39.243-08:00Thanks, Ben. PD James is an excellent essayist, a...Thanks, Ben. PD James is an excellent essayist, a wonderful non-fiction writer (I like her memoir Time to Be in Earnest too), but her critical perspective was rather limited, unfortunately, so her analysis gives us a lot of the same old misconceptions, absolutely. The Lucy Worsley book that followed, which I reviewed here, was much worse, because Worsley couldn't even pretend to know what James knew about the genre. The Martin Edwards books that he has gotten out with Collins are of course more informed. He's better read in the older genre writing and, unlike James and Worsley, he has paid attention to online sources, which are full of more accurate information and counternarratives, as you say.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-48005353154926100972017-11-29T17:31:42.373-08:002017-11-29T17:31:42.373-08:00Ironically, I heard of Dickson Carr and Austin Fre...Ironically, I heard of Dickson Carr and Austin Freeman from Christie's and Sayer's books. It was obvious that they were the writers they wanted to be ranked with. It does seem sad that they and the others are so neglected. If nothing else, what do you read once you've done the Big Four? Two side notes: 1)I'm glad someone finds the Lampreys charming, and 2)I'm also pleased that Christie thought her "Big Four" wasn't very good. Sheena McGrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15519436546509188497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-31561311978201360922017-11-28T16:00:12.891-08:002017-11-28T16:00:12.891-08:00While P. D. James does a fine job of setting forth...While P. D. James does a fine job of setting forth her own philosophy of crime writing in <i>Talking About Detective Fiction</i>, as history it's so blinkered I can't imagine it winning the Anthony Award as it did without her name on it. She imputes the Great Detective tradition not only to just England but to just the political right. (Tell it to GDH and Margaret Cole.) But to be fair these misconceptions have been widespread for a long time, so I appreciate your limning out a counternarrative.Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06590397694589547524noreply@blogger.com