Crime
"La novela policial ha creado un tipo especial de lector."
Crime is not beautiful, and I’m lucky I haven’t experienced much worse than being robbed: car broken into, bikes stolen, clothing stolen, a Sony Discman nabbed on a train. But no attacks, no break-ins. Lucky.
That said, though I know people who’ve suffered violent crimes, really horrible stuff, and also I feel (probably) as infuriated as you by the incessant corruption of the Trump White House, I thought about crime’s aesthetics a lot this week—I’m deep into a crime fiction project—and I’ll still argue that the aesthetics of crime, experienced at least from a distance, are pretty irresistible.
There’s Traitors, The Sopranos, Hammett, Conan Doyle.
There’s how it makes you feel, whether at remove or directly doing it: transgressive, vengeful, perhaps sexy in your own film noir.
If you don’t have a person in your life who shoplifts at the grocery store, you probably don’t have enough people in your life or know them very well.
There’s also the reward: the relief of a good solve as suspense resolves, especially if you don’t beat the author to the punch.
Or a chance to process violence at safe remove; no episode of SVU is longer than an hour long, I don’t think.
Is the story thinner than glass?
Is it all hard looks, hard betrayals?
I’m probably still reading or watching anyway. Remembering how normal crime is.
Perhaps because crime in fiction offers a closed solution. It’s ethical reasoning with referees. We sympathize with the detective and criminal both. And sometimes it’s the most moral genre, even wholesome, all about redemption, the defense of order in an era of disorder.
These days, I prefer invented crimes that flirt with disenchantment, that are more honest about how the world works, recognizing how systems are often criminal, or the most criminal. Regarding the Discman mentioned up top: Studying in South Africa during college, I shared an overnight train car from Cape Town to Durban with three other students. The ticket agent warned us to lock the windows before we went to sleep: a screen window, glass window, and a heavy metal shutter. But the air conditioning was broken, and we wanted to smoke a joint, so we fell asleep with only the mesh screen closed. The train slowed in the night for a station. A man leapt onto the train, shoved up the screen and extended his arms forward as though for a hug—then fell backwards, sweeping everything off the table: passports, wallets, said Discman.
This was South Africa in the 1990s. The system was the most criminal, and I was a white American kid safely visiting, studying art for a semester, parachuting in before returning home.
I don’t mean to be glib, I just didn’t think about the Discman much after that.
𓀠 Tomorrow’s 3+ things for members:
Favorite European crime novels (none of them Scandinavian) and an interactive map for finding more
A great new doc series about art crime, though Americans will need a VPN
New releases in classical music I’ve enjoyed
Join the community for just $6/month and enjoy the Sunday supplements: great books, travel/fashion picks, new music and cool stuff generally.
❀ Hey, if you’re a writer looking for help—editing, coaching, brainstorm juju—I recommend collaborating with Rachel Knowles.
Rachel has helped me significantly over the years, not to mention lots of other writers: novelists, screenwriters, Substack-ers, the gamut. Whether you’re aspiring or established, everyone needs an editor. More info at her website.
What the what
“Meditations in an Emergency” is a weekly essay from author Rosecrans Baldwin about something beautiful. Paying subscribers receive a Sunday supplement with three-plus things to love, plus a monthly travel-lust ballyhoo.
Rosecrans is a correspondent for GQ, a contributor at Travel + Leisure, and the bestselling author of Everything Now, winner of the California Book Award. Other books include The Last Kid Left and Paris, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down. His debut novel, You Lost Me There, was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice.
For magazine articles, bio, contact info: rosecransbaldwin.com.
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Summer is always my 'season of crime.' And I'm purely referring to my reading habits here. Just coming down from a Manchette bender.