Golden age mysteries - am I wearing my slash goggles? I don't think so...

[charlie_cochrane]

I took a bag of books to my local Oxfam bookshop and inevitably emerged with another handful of reading matter, including Josephine Tey's first mystery, The Man in the Queue.

It's very much of its time (1929) so some of the language jars particularly in terms of both overt and covert racism, but that apart what struck me is that (like AA Milne's Red House Mystery) 80% of this book reads like a 2016 written m/m historical romantic mystery. The descriptions of young men and Inspector Grant's reactions to them are distinctly slashy; in fact, I'm reading Tey's book alongside Elin Gregory's Eleventh Hour, which is set in the same era, and I keep thinking, "which book was that bit in?"

Which shows how authentic Elin's sounds and how suspicious Tey's is.

Comments

Re: Re: Slash Goggles, or the Slippery Slope

[bauhiniakapok.livejournal.com]

I do think that people back then were far more comfortable being affectionate with same-sex "bosom companions," without anything further being meant by it. It seems very cultural. I come from a touchy-freely family, and I remember when I was a young teenager in Wisconsin, walking with a same-sex friend, when she suddenly stopped dead and said in horror, "Look, we're holding hands!" I didn't think it was a big deal, but she wasn't comfortable with it. When I moved to California in my late teens, I was happy to find that my friends there saw nothing strange about hugging each other. Here in China, same-sex friends, male or female, can walk holding hands or with their arms slung across the other's shoulders, or pat the other's leg when sitting, and it just means they are friends. My little son and his best friend walk hand-in-hand all the time. I think it is healthy. Humans are meant to touch.

Re: Re: Slash Goggles, or the Slippery Slope

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Hear hear! And yes, males touching when walking has gone in and out of fashion, especially in less worldly days. Now I guess I see it most manifested in sport. Rugby players have no problem in contact.

Re: Re: Slash Goggles, or the Slippery Slope

[bauhiniakapok.livejournal.com]

Which would be why you like rugby? I must admit, I saw a rugby game on TV at a sports bar the other day and it was very...cozy. And their uniforms were quite...snug. And they all seemed rather tall and muscular, bigger than football/soccer players, but without the bulk you get in some American football players. It was rather...distracting. I haven't been much exposed to rugby. I'm not sporty at all. My husband went to uni in New Zealand but he didn't play. (He's more of a jogger.) For years now I have wanted to see an All Blacks game, because I want to see them do the hakka. Is that hake? Anyway...perhaps the game itself might hold some appeal, now, at least because I've been reading so much of your stuff!

Re: Slash Goggles, or the Slippery Slope

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Haka. Which is a magnificent spectacle.

The game is also great - apart from all the things you mention - because of its level of inclusivity and sportsmanship. The best rugby referee in the world (Nigel Owens) is gay, out and nobody gives a fig.