As to comparing him with Don DeLillo, such a comparison may
be unfair -
in fact, it would be unfair for most American novelists of
the past
several decades. Few are as good as DeLillo, who is something
of a
genius writer - but a writer can be excellent without
reaching such
heights (it's also excellence but on a different plane). This
reminds me
of a friend who, on hearing a pianist play Beethoven,
immediately says
that said pianist is not nearly as good as Schnabel - again,
it's
unfair.
I have faith that Ellroy has talent to spare - if he can
control the
beast inside of him, he can be a heck of a writer in any
genre. My guess
is that he has exhausted the neurotic, sadistic, and
self-exploitative
vein that made him famous. What I would really like to see is
Ellroy
producing a comic novel - he has not used his sense of humor
enough.
On this topic, after re-reading most of Ross Macdonald's
novels over the
past couple of years - with great enjoyment - it dawned on me
how weak
he is in the humor department. He gets a square zero - there
is some
irony, but no humor. I had never thought of this as a flaw,
but now I am
beginning to. William Campbell Gault, on the other
hand....
Regards,
Mario Taboada
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