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Re: RARA-AVIS: Willeford - The Shark Infested Custard
On Tue, 7 Jan 1997, Etienne Borgers wrote (about Willeford's _The
Shark-Infested Custard_):
: This novel leaves a taste of unfulfillment as IMO the reader feels
: subjectively that everything is set for more development. Not
: necessarily to get a "finale" but evrything is there to do more.
Well said. I wonder if this is a distinction between "crime" novels,
whatever they are, and hardboiled novels. There seems to be a
tendency nowadays, in Elmore Leonard and people like him, to not come
to a conclusive ending. Stuff happens, and then the book stops, but
you get the feeling you've seen a slice of life, not a self-contained
unit. It's a different technique, and sometimes I like it and
sometimes I don't. In a way it's more realistic.
Now, most classic hardboiled stories come to a definite end. Spade
gets hold of the fake falcon and ships everyone off to jail, the Op
finishes tearing the town wide open and reports back to his boss,
Hammer kills the commie/pervert/woman, McGee kills the bad guy and
recovers the money, Archer discovers the tie between that murder 25
years ago and the daughter's disappearance. In cosies, that kind of
ending still happens, as far as I know (I don't read them, but I
imagine the little old lady still gets everyone into the room together
and slowly explains how Lady Cholmondley was killed when Mr. Badminton
stuck a needle tipped in arsenic into the bottle of sherry.)
You don't find this as often in more current stories. I'm trying to
think of some examples, but I can't, aside from maybe Leonard's _Get
Shorty_, which kind of came to end but kind of didn't. I really liked
the book, don't get me wrong, it just didn't all wrap up at the end.
The Hoke Moseley books, by Willeford, are a sort of mix. They do come
to an end (if I recall correctly) but you're left with the feeling
that you've seen another episode in his life, and he's going to keep
on getting mixed up in more badness. He takes a lot of crap, but he
keeps on going.
So, I wonder if this could be used as a point of differentiation
between hardboiled and crime novels. I'd be interested to hear of any
evidence pro or con. I've seen some lists that try to define what it
is that makes a film noir - has anyone seen anything like that for
hardboiled fiction? Maybe we could try to iron one out as we go.
Anyway, it's nice to have a list where I can talk about this kind of
thing. :)
Cheers,
Bill
--
William Denton : buff@vex.net <-- Please note new address.
Toronto, Canada <-- I'm not at io.org any more.
http://www.vex.net/~buff/ Caveat lector.
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