Hosh
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Dan Fante's books, so far, have provided some insight as well.
As for INTENT, I'd say writers want to create characters that are accurate and compelling--so fashioning a realistic persona with both good and bad qualities might just have been the intent. As someone said before, I think both Buk and Fante's work is pretty free of judgment--they created characters reader can wonder about...not characters that necessarily "represent" anything more than a character's mindset. And a character being openly, and unapologetically racist (though written decades ago--chances are good that it wasn't as racist then, as it is now) probably was meant to be an accurate portrayal of a character who was more conservative, old-fashioned, a little boorish even--much like Tom Buchanan in Gatsby--though certainly Fante's characters are more 3 dimensional than he was. And let's face it--race relations remain compelling even to this day. We're interested in how we're the same and how we're different...fascinated even. Makes for good reading...when done well.
As for INTENT, I'd say writers want to create characters that are accurate and compelling--so fashioning a realistic persona with both good and bad qualities might just have been the intent. As someone said before, I think both Buk and Fante's work is pretty free of judgment--they created characters reader can wonder about...not characters that necessarily "represent" anything more than a character's mindset. And a character being openly, and unapologetically racist (though written decades ago--chances are good that it wasn't as racist then, as it is now) probably was meant to be an accurate portrayal of a character who was more conservative, old-fashioned, a little boorish even--much like Tom Buchanan in Gatsby--though certainly Fante's characters are more 3 dimensional than he was. And let's face it--race relations remain compelling even to this day. We're interested in how we're the same and how we're different...fascinated even. Makes for good reading...when done well.