tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post8140000723557023776..comments2024-03-28T10:31:55.774-07:00Comments on The Passing Tramp: Mind Your Murders: Leslie Ford's Murder in Maryland (1932) and The Clue of the Judas Tree (1933)The Passing Tramphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-52714190033948622582013-06-14T18:22:58.717-07:002013-06-14T18:22:58.717-07:00Good, evenhanded look at a couple of Ford's bo...Good, evenhanded look at a couple of Ford's books. I prefer her Latham/Primrose books to her standalone books, but the Mr Pinkerton books more than those. The "race issue" never really arose in my mind when I first read the Latham books, partly because there is always a tendency to accept whatever world the writer creates as it is (the suspension-of-disbelief mechanism that makes fiction readable) and partly because her descriptions of self-absorbed white society women rang true in my mind. Even now, when the issue has assumed such unproportional importance over the stories themselves, I really don't see any mean-spiritedness on Ford's part, and the "separate society" that the blacks lived in back then seems more or less true to my memory as a white looking in from outside. Many of the older blacks I knew actually missed that separate society. I think segregation worked differently for white and blacks -- for whites, it kept blacks out; for blacks, they didn't have to let whites in. Desegregation has improved society, though some on both sides still fight it after all this time. But almost all books written before desegregation, especially if set in the South or Washington DC, are going to be "inappropriate" by modern standards. Race doesn't enter the Pinkerton books (though Mr Pinkerton never really can escape the fact he's Welsh) but a black man does appear in one of the books -- he's in the Reading Room of the British Museum...but did Leslie Ford observe him there one day, or did she put him there on purpose?Ralph E. Vaughanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06326668196800976578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-2204136022703725952013-06-14T05:52:25.880-07:002013-06-14T05:52:25.880-07:00Hi, Bob, I hope in a good way for me! I will chec...Hi, Bob, I hope in a good way for me! I will check it out, thanks.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-10712187507028681952013-06-07T07:59:33.585-07:002013-06-07T07:59:33.585-07:00Curt: I used this post as the starting point for a...Curt: I used this post as the starting point for a post on my blog: http://adventuresbob.blogspot.com/2013/06/race-in-period-literature.html.<br /><br />Bob Houkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16982822149146722008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-33643072373600023892013-06-04T10:58:35.213-07:002013-06-04T10:58:35.213-07:00Peggy Ann,
Thanks so much for letting me know th...Peggy Ann, <br /><br />Thanks so much for letting me know that you enjoy the posts here and find them useful. It's nice to hear back about this!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-1158157243005057012013-06-04T10:56:50.583-07:002013-06-04T10:56:50.583-07:00I guess Rue Morgue decided Leslie Ford was beyond ...I guess Rue Morgue decided Leslie Ford was beyond disclaimer!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-22775397627560088232013-06-04T07:51:53.721-07:002013-06-04T07:51:53.721-07:00Rue Morgue Press has a disclaimer in their edition...Rue Morgue Press has a disclaimer in their edition of Stuart Palmer's <i>Miss Withers Regrets</i> pointing out a racial issue with the story. <br /><br /><br /><br />TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-3738007382599819152013-06-04T05:28:33.366-07:002013-06-04T05:28:33.366-07:00I so enjoy your posts! Thanks for always giving me...I so enjoy your posts! Thanks for always giving me a 'new' author to look for in tramps thru used bookstores!Peggy Annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00426356514707257708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-79830274947030752422013-06-04T04:58:57.184-07:002013-06-04T04:58:57.184-07:00Jeff, yes, certainly that's something a publis...Jeff, yes, certainly that's something a publisher could do. It seems a shame to exclude her when her books had some merit and there is an interested fan base still, thirty years after her death. That's not something that can be said for every author, that's for sure!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-19752834575759722882013-06-04T04:54:11.621-07:002013-06-04T04:54:11.621-07:00Curt, one thing that might be done is to include a...Curt, one thing that might be done is to include a disclaimer. I believe that Too Many Cooks by Stout has such a disclaimer in it as there are unkind references to minorities. Jeffrey Markshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08422459407138331707noreply@blogger.com