Hi Neil,
I think the genre either changes or
it dies. If all we do is rewrite Hammett and Chandler and
Thompson, et al. we might as well forget about it. My quarrel
with Pelacanos (whose work I enjoy very much) is not that he
does something different, but that he does things which, I
believe, diminish his work. As far as unfairly comparing him
to Hammett; I plead not guilty. What I did was fair. I'd
compare elements of Richard Ford's writing to that of
Hemingway without blushing. Also Poe to Hammett. Why not? Why
shouldn't I do the same of Hammett and Pelacanos. What I'm
comparing is craftsmanship not writing styles of the times or
popular culture.
Today, far more than in Hammett's
day, communication and entertainment only work if they
progress or evolve at warp speed. I'm convinced that to write
for those awash in an M-TV, and action movie culture, the
crime fiction writer needs to tell a strong, spare,
compressed story in which the author is nowhere to be found.
That's my manifesto for this discussion. Nothing more.
I think that too frequently and for no good reason (
one that is necessary to the story) Pelacanos often fails to
do that. Quentin Tarrentino does the same stuff with his
movies. That's why he grows so tiresome.
Not only do I disagree with your
assessment that Pelacanos is "extending
" Leonard's work, I think Pelacanos is at his best when he is
working hard to mimic Leonard's economy. Whatever is needed
to reveal the characters, develop a sense of place and time,
evoke a mood, and tell a story belongs in the book.
Everything else is either poor craftsmanship or a writer who
can't shut up or who is showing off. Pelacanos is too good to
be guilty of poor craftsmanship.
You may love the way he shows off
because because you find that it speaks to you; I'm that way
about Hunter Thompson, Louise Redd, and John Gregory Dunne.
That doesn't mean the writing is effective - it just means
that I think (and Thompson, Redd, and Dunne think) that
they're cool.
Jim
Blue
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