One of those days where I did not follow the News of the World very much, and hence was happier. Stupid, but happy. The lack of a laptop – in the shop, as noted – changes the way I follow things; when I’m seeing the world through an iPad, it’s different. Moving from this pursuit to that one involves disconnecting from the thing you were doing. You’re not flitting between writing and surfing. You can, if you wish; the instantaneousness of the switch means you might as well be “multitasking,” to use the word that applies to self-inflicted ADHD, but the difference between laptop internet and iPad is the difference between skim and dwell. Not saying it’s good or bad, only different.
At the conclusion of the day’s labors I sat out back and finished “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” What began as a book that was either banal in execution or banal in translation, or both, ended up as a book where these deficiencies didn’t matter at all, thanks to the headlong rush of the story. I also enjoyed the sheer Swedishness of it all, whatever that means. Brought to mind a series of books I read in the 80s in college, the Martin Beck books, spoiled only in the end by the fatuous and explicit endorsement of Marxism in the very last line of the book. It was like Marlowe ending the last novel by raising a tumbler of bourbon to Lenin or Hitler.
Which he would never do, the detective story being antithetical to collectivism, he said, not quite thinking that through. Is it true? Well. There were a few mysteries set in Soviet Russia – Gorky Park was a remarkable book for the time, and seemed fascinating and exotic. (Yes, I’ve read all the sequels; Arkady is one my favorite characters.) But detective stories that arise out of the culture itself? I remember a book from college, “The Case of Comrade Tulayev,” I think – a murder mystery set in Stalinist Roosia, but so much more than that. The author was a total Red, if I recall, and I have diminished sympathy for anti-Stalinists who animus was based in the fact that they followed Trotsky. As I wrote a very long time ago, some say the glass is half-full, some say it’s half-empty, some say it should be full but capitalist wreckers were to blame, and purge 10,000 cows.
You know, I actually remember where I wrote that: in Fargo, by the ugly fountain in the mall built in the hollowed-out remains of the downtown Sears store. I have no idea why I recall that.
Anyway: the detective story requires an individual, but it also require a State. The Gordianus novels of the Roman detective have both; Marlowe and Spade have the same wary relationship to authority, because authority is interested in its own perpetuation above all, and this does not fit with the idea of the state representing the pure will of the people. The genre also requires that the individual have skills and attributes not common in the organs of the state, and that’s counter-revolutionary as well. You can pick up the political undertones of “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” if you like, but they’re not essential, and don’t detract from the tale. The prose, at least in the English version, is utterly ordinary. The bones of the story are solid and the pace of the revelations in the second half quite good. But I’ve read much better.
And I hope I am writing much better. Worked some more on the novel tonight, after an absence. Wish this was the only thing I had to do.
Worked in the back yard today; had a visit from the Weed-Killing Man, who was sweating horribly and walked around the yard spritzing death-juice here and there. Had a visit from the Crazy Uke, who has crafted together a refinancing of the mortgage to take advantage of today’s parlous economic circumstances and low, low rates. Hello, let’s manufacture another theoretical construct based on the symbolic valuations of fiat currency! Okay let’s. The objective is to own my house in 15 years, because I loath, loath, loath debt. Of any kind. My parents’ generation have memories of burning the mortgage in the fire. More common today for kids will be the memory of walking away from a mortgage entirely, or just having one in perpetuity, rent dressed up in the costume of ownership. I want to say THIS IS MINE! Until I fall behind on taxes and they take it away for that.
Sigh. The debt to the state can never be paid in full, can it.
Anyway, a good Monday. Now that I have my Mad Men on iTunes, I will watch it, and enjoy the sad ominous opening music, savoring again, as we do every summer, the sarcastic little off-key drone that ends the theme. It’s a soap opera, but they’re all soap operas. Still wondering why no one’s invented a soap opera set in the 60s – either the genre is dead, and they’re just letting the old ones play out, or they think mass audiences can’t “relate” to an era that doesn’t exactly mirror their own. The pleasures of “Mad Men” are, in part, the distance between now and then, and the lessons you infer. Freedoms lost and freedoms gained. It’s like watching people stand on a stage of sugar, and seeing someone behind them hosing it down with hot water. (Update: watched it. Loved it. It’s either a different show that’s also the same, or a show that’s the same as before but different. Hard to describe – but as I noted on the Twitter, it’s brighter. It’s 1965 – I think – and it’s brighter.)
Later today: comic sins, #200! If you missed yesterday’s LA 1962 update, it’s here – I posted Monday’s Bleat without finishing it, and didn’t add the link until later in the AM. Tumblr will have three updates, and PopCrush at least five, with a noontime video. See you around.
Pass it along, if you wish
50 Responses to “And this is the CBP, or Crushing Balloon Payment.”
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Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner were killed in June 1964, so I’m guessing the ep was set in November of that year.
Amen to paying off that mortgage. I’m in about the same place (house should be paid off in 15 years, or less). I will be utterly delighted to watch that mortgage paper burn to a crisp. (If I didn’t have two boys that still have to get through college, I’d have it paid off sooner.)
The best series of detective novels — police procedurals, really — were the Inspector Rostnikov by the recently-deceased Stuart M. Kaminsky. They covered the eras of full-on Soviet collectivism, through glasnost, to the Russia we have today.
As far as PIs go, there’s a difference towards authority depending on which coast. The West Coast PIs were always in conflict with authority, while the East Coast gumshoes cooperated with the cops. Personally I like the stiff-necked independents of Chandler and Hammett compared to the running-dog lackeys of the east.
Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe may not have been political, but Dashiell Hammett (creator of Sam Spade) was a committed Marxist-Leninist. It has to show up in his work, but I really only know the movies.
Examples of “running dog lackey” detectives? I can’t think of any. The only east coast detective I can think of offhand is Spenser, and he’s no lackey.
Hasty generalization, perhaps?
My favorite PI is west coaster Kinsey Milhone, but she is hardly typical of anything.
Hammett’s detective fiction never really showed his Reditude, unless I completely missed something. Yeah, there’s an antagonism against rich folks, but that’s common to the genre, and besides, there’s plenty of antagonism toward poor folks and in-between folks, too.
I note the Beefeater restaurant in L.A. I was born in ’64, and have a vague impression of a beefeater-obsessed society, with those fake Camelot weapons nailed to the paneled walls of rec rooms nationwide, Beefeater gin in every home, and a restaurant with a smiling mustached beefeater mascot in every city. Was it a “Camelot” thing? An “England Swings” thing? A British Invasion thing? A postwar thing? It seems like the only time in our history we treated the English as a fascinating foreign culture.
Although not relevant to today’s Bleat, I thought James would like to view the documentary “Helvetica”, which is about the typeface.
Maybe you’ve seen it; if not, you should.
Lots of typeface involved people get interviewed about their thoughts concerning the Helvetica font itself, and typeface design in general.
A “Must See” for our Mr. Lileks.
http://www.amazon.com/Helvetica-David-Carson/dp/B000VWEFP8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1280160131&sr=8-1
Told you, that when you got past some of the character development in “The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo”, you would enjoy it.
Paid off my mortgage in 1995, something else just comes along and takes the money. Though it’s still nice to have the house paid for .
The fountain wasn’t ugly.
The novels by Tom Rob Smith, Child 44 and The Secret Speech, weave the attitudes and events of the Stalinist era into their plots, and they’re pretty good reads. Arkady Renko is one of my favorites also. But the hard-boiled detective is, by definition, opposed to authority. A Western attitude which makes him a tough sell in a collectivist context. “Comrade, I have traced the conspiracy to the highest levels of the Politboro!”, “Very good, comrade inspector. Now, you will immediately forget all you have learned in order to further the glory of the Revolution, and you will board this train to Siberia.” “Da, comrade. At once!” M. C. Smith’s Renko describes himself as Russian, not red. And T. R. Smith’s Demidov starts out as a believer, but goes through an awakening of conscience.
It’s All the good roast beef of England, and all the good English roast beef.
Bob
I’m a big fan of Stuart Kaminsky, but I’ve only read one of his Russian mysteries so far. I remember it as very claustrophobic, which was probably the intention. Especially recommended are Kaminsky’s Lew Fonesca stories, offbeat mysteries about a sad sack process server in Sarasota who gets around by bicycle.
I always watched Hammett for Communist themes, but he played his cards close to his vest. The man knew his market. I do recall a Continental Op story where the villain was an exiled Russian czarist, but that’s about as overtly political as it gets.
Glad you liked the Dragon Tattoo. If I can forgive Larsson for being a commie, I’d think anyone can. I suspect anybody who’s ever been bullied seriously will be won over by Lizbeth.
Best financial decision we ever made (and were able to make, thank goodness) was to switch to a 15 yr. mortgage from our 30 yr. I hope you are able to shorten yours.
I liked Mad Men, too. Costuming is always so fantastic. I noticed some top stitching on Don’s lapels (whoa! shades of leisure suit), and his sack suits are looking even more sack-like. Peggy’s wearing higher heels–but also trying to “stick it to the man” by thinking outside the box. Looking forward to the rest of the season.
What I don’t follow is why reviewers described Betty’s mother-in-law is a nightmare, when the truth is that Betty’s the horror.
My favorite detective is my avatar, and Joe Friday was the ultimate civil servant, but his job was always just to enforce the laws that The People decided to pass. (Although he would probably put a bullet in his head if the measure to legalize Mary Jane passes here in California)
If you pay off your house, but you still need to pay property taxes to live there, do you really own it?
I’ve just reserved some Stuart Kaminsky books from our library. With this audience of mystery fans, can someone point me to two authors’ names? One wrote mysteries set in apartheit South Africa (the detective was a cop, I think). The other wrote mysteries set in India – again the detective was a cop I think. I think the authors were from South Africa, and from India.
Speaking of Africa, a different take on the detective story, but still each with a mystery to be solved, are The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency stories by Alexander McCall Smith. The opposite of hard boiled, Precious Ramotswe is still a keen observer of human nature but one who loves people, not sneers at them and their faults and failures.
@hpoulter: “…Dashiell Hammett (creator of Sam Spade) was a committed Marxist-Leninist. It has to show up in his work…”
I’ve read all of Hammett’s novels, and didn’t see anything hinting of Red=ness. Of course, I didn’t know that about Hammett until you said it. But I think I would have picked up on it if such a thing were there.
I strongly recommend Hammett’s novels, BTW. Loved “Maltese Falcon,” as well as “The Thin Man.” Great, great stuff, and much more sophisticated (“adult”) than the movies!
Sorry, that should have been “Red-ness.”
Darn the lack of an edit function!
The reason there’s no soap operas set in the 60′s is because that would require a teeny tiny bit of effort. Soap operas today survive because they are hella cheap, and super simplistic. Having to pay a stylist to build up 60′s wardrobe? And build up 60′s authentic sets? That’s WAY too much hassle.
-60′s soap opera: last time they tried this type of thing was “Dark Shadows”- lots of gothic references, although I think it was set in contemporary times (the 60′s, naturally…)
The theme freaked me out as a kid, and I had to go outside and play whenever it started.
James Lileks sez: “The debt to the state can never be paid in full, can it.”
Spoken like a true libertarian, James. There may be hope after all!
“What I don’t follow is why reviewers described Betty’s mother-in-law is a nightmare, when the truth is that Betty’s the horror.”
I think, Jennifer, is that MiL’s nightmareishness is out in the open, while Betty’s is much more subtle.
I agree not hint of Marxism in Hammett stories. How committed to the cause was he, I got the impression (without true research) that it was just from hanging out with Lillian Hellman and her friends too much.
When Hammett re-enlisted in WWII, they sent him to Alaska. Maybe they did not trust him. At least he could see USSR from his barracks.
I don’t read mystery other than Hammett and Chandler. My wife reads all the new stuff and I always try to talk her into reading the old stuff.
There was an HBO movie based on the real life “Citizen X” serial murders in USSR. It was a good telling of how Soviet bureaucracy and resource shortages interfered with the criminal investigation. Takes place between 1978-1990.
I vote for the pre-Revolution mystery novels of Boris Akunin.
http://www.boris-akunin.com/
I read Hammett and Spillaine for weeks while I was preparing to write a 1940′s part of a mystery that I was working on. I wanted to get the feel and the style of the 40′s so my character would seem like he was really from that era.
There was a kind of weary cynicism that was a hallmark of the age, not just the noir mystery. Weary of war, infected with the new rot of Marxism, watching the left creep into politics and sweep across Europe crushing freedom under fascist boots, there was a sense that America was finished, exhausted. Our boys were fighting and dying in Europe and the Pacific and we had no idea if we were going to win this war at all.
If I were to pick a moment when this changed, I would pick when the bomb fell on Hiroshima. The nuclear age, for a while, sent the communists scurrying like cockroaches for the darkness. America had bright horizons, new industries, rocket ships into space, computers. For a while, noir was just a fun thing to watch in the theatre. For a while.
Whenever I see Lillian Hellman’s name I think of Mary McCarthy’s great quote, “Everything she says is a lie, including “and” and “the.”
Slightly confused. Were you referring to the last line of a Martin Beck mystery as “Marxist”?
The last line of “…Dragon Tattoo” has nothing to do with Marxism, unless you consider Salander discarding an Elvis CD as Marxist.
Not mortgage, but almost as bad: Back in March/April of this year I finally paid off my car, after four long years of constantly being beyond broke. The second I received that car title in the mail I did one heck of a dance. I gathered up all the loan documents and we had us a nice bonfire in the backyard. Sacrifices were made to appease certain gods. Charred flesh of said sacrifices was consumed.
Discarding an Elvis CD in Lennonism.
@bgbear: could be Monkeeism, too. hey-hey!
@Alan Taylor “Speaking of Africa, a different take on the detective story, but still each with a mystery to be solved, are The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency stories by Alexander McCall Smith. The opposite of hard boiled, Precious Ramotswe is still a keen observer of human nature but one who loves people, not sneers at them and their faults and failures.”
Someone gave me a couple of these and I was surprised at how much I liked them. Precious was someone I would love to sit and have tea with and listen to her talk about people.
For an interesting movie depiction of Soviet life, circa 1981, check out the new French espionage thriller movie, “Farewell.” (here’s a Flixter link: http://www.flixster.com/movie/farewell). This is an old-fashioned, character-driven movie, not a jump cut to be seen, that ratchet’s up the tension as it plays out.
The HBO films version of “The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” are top notch, filmed on location in Botswana and uses local talent.
Sorry for the bad “Farewell” link to “Flixter” but this one to the “official site” should work: http://www.neoclassicsfilms.com/filmsLF.html
@swschrad, yes monkees are mixed on Elvis but, like the fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
@bgbear. What would being assigned to Alaska have to do with not being trusted? My dad spent over three years in the Aleutian Islands during WWII, army corps of engineers. They saw plenty of action with the Japanese and dad took shrapnel in the back. It wasn’t some quiet outpost. (Unlike a friend of mine who spent the Vietnam war stationed in Panama.Sweet.)
Paid of my 30 year mortgage in 18 yrs 2 mos. Like James I loathe debt and interest payments. Started rounding up most house payments to the next hundred (or an extra hundred if feeling flush. It’s pure principal and really adds up. btw, I’m a self-employed painter, musician (i.e. not wealthy)with two college kids. Just live a frugal comfortable lifestyle.
@ArganikMark:
You’re right, he was probably safer in his WWI stateside assignment.
Ignorance and brevity on my part and trying to set up a joke. Hammett arrived after most of the action and was primarily given “moral boosting” work to the now mostly bored soldiers. He was in his 40s.
IIRC, the Aleutians saw the only land battle on North American soil in WWII.
I’m guessing that Hammett’s assignment was a function of distrust of him. No offense to your father’s service AgranikMark. There was very little he would be able to do to compromise any sensitive information to Uncle Joe. Whatever he might have been able to get out would probably have had some negative effects on the Japanese, since they had one eye over their shoulder in case the Soviets wanted some payback for the humiliation heaped on La Rodina 40 some years earlier.
@Alan Taylor
Best guesses:
South Africa: James H. McClure’s “Kramer and Zondi” series;
India: H. R. F. Keating’s “Inspector Ghote” novels.
Since you mentioned Gordianus, I’m contractually obligated to recommend Lindsey Davis’ Marcus Didius Falco novels.
Falco does work for the Emperor (Vespasian) fairly often, but he’s by no means “The Emperor’s Man.”
I’ve found that the Gordianus books get sort of turgid and dark the further you get into the series, particularly once his son get involved with Ceasar. Falco stays lively and light, and his cynicism never curdles into misanthropy.
Yes, the Swedishness of it is one of the charms of “The Girl” stories. Wait until the second book…cops traveling on mass transit to reach a crime scene!
@Rex V: we have had in the Twin Cities a bus ad that seems to come back to life every few years.
in which a bus with a sad-a5$ layout of seats facing each other all along the walls of the bus from the late 90s is filled with firemen in crash coats, a full-length ladder in the aisle.
the hype is that because busses can run on the shoulders, they are a faster commute.
the dozen or so busses with that layout can carry about as many folks as a stretch minivan. I cringe when one of those “experiments” shows up on my route and the door hisses open.
@ArganikMark: “…Started rounding up most house payments to the next hundred (or an extra hundred if feeling flush.”
I pay an extra $150 a month on the mortgage. Doesn’t sound like much, but every little bit you throw at that principal gets you out of debt earlier and earlier.
“There were a few mysteries set in Soviet Russia [...] But detective stories that arise out of the culture itself?”
How about detective stories created by the actual Russians?
There is a 1979 made-for-TV movie, which is still very popular in Russia after all this years, and for a good reason. It is based on a book by the Vayner Brothers and stars Vladimir Vysotsky shortly before his death. The setting of the movie? Post-WWII Stalinist USSR.
The movie was released in the West under the name “Age of Mercy.” It’s probably hard to find on DVD but there is a subtitled version divided into 10-minute pieces and uploaded to Youtube so you can watch a little every day.
Here is the first part. (You have to wait a couple of minutes for the subtitles).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-3hWESnqq4&feature=related
I am curious what you’d make of this.
@Ryan: Wardrobe? Sets? Ha ha ha hahaha! You have completely forgotten about the Hairstylists! My 60s girlfriends spent Endless Hours teasing their hair – To The Perfect Stack, The Perfect Tease, And The Perfect Flip!
A 2010s hairstylist would have to be under contract 24/7 to recreate The 60s Hair (and could doubtless retire after a 4-5 years.)
humphrey bogart is DA MAN. Him and Gregory Peck…I would be starstruck if I had ever met them….
Instead of soap operas set in the 60′s, how about reshowing the soap operas MADE in the 60s’ – Days of our Lives has been on since 1965 – I would love a cable channel that just started running all the soaps from their initial episode (40 + years ago)
Ruth, you’re in denial. IT WAS UGLY. It sounded nice, and it was . . . bounteously waterful, but -
Well. I’ll just have to go back to Fargo, photograph it, and prove it!
I’ve no idea why I feel particularly compelled to state this here as opposed to somewhere else (such as the Amazon review section), but “TGWTDT” must have been one of the most over-hyped books in recent history. After listening to the near-pleas of co-workers I picked up the novel, read it, and was utterly disappointed. Perhaps some of the quality was lost in the translation to English, but I couldn’t help but feel I was in a some sort of video game where computer-controlled players went around saying “Will you be my friend?” and “I just want to be your friend.” I believe that each one of Larsson’s characters must have used a variation of those two statements at least ten times. I won’t give away the ending here, but the general result was obvious at least a quarter of the way through the book. I felt no sympathy or empathy with any of the characters in the novel at all. If you’re giving any consideration to reading this mystery just skip it and head straight to “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union” instead …
Ahem: Crime and Punishment, anyone?