Juri wrote: The writers Cain influenced might in the end
provide more interesting body of work than those who followed
Chandler's work.
This statement is almost unanswerable because it is one of
the most uninformed statements I have ever heard/read. I
can't imagine any American mystery writer of the latter half
of the 20th century that wasn't influenced by Chandler. Even
if they haven't read him, they've been influenced by writers
who were influenced by him. Even writers like Julie Smith,
who work appears to have nothing in common with Chandler
admits to this.
----Original Message Follows---- From: Juri Nummelin <
jurnum@utu.fi> Reply-To:
rara-avis@icomm.ca To: <
rara-avis@icomm.ca> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: RE: Review
of Chandler Papers Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 23:44:39 +0200
(EET)
On Tue, 27 Feb 2001, Dick Lochte wrote:
> I find it odd that readers (on this list especially)
get bent out of
shape
> by Peter Temple's comment about Gardner and Cain
being forgotten but have
> not taken issue with his statement that "Hammett's
equipment was
> second-rate. His prose was only slightly less
wooden than that of most
> pulp-magazine writers, and there is something naive
about his world
view."
You're right. Hammett might have been a bit clumsy at times
and some of his plots are dated now, but his prose is as
clear as a fountain lake
(if this metaphor fits the subject). I just reread (in the
translation) Peter Haining's "Pulp Frictions", a merely
mediocre anthology, in which Hammett's (or Peter Collinson's
actually) "Arson Plus" shines as a gem.
> And Cain, though currently out of vogue, made a
large
> enough contribution to the genre (paving the way
for Thompson, Goodis,
> Willeford, Woodrell, etc.) for him to be remembered
by most mystery
readers
> and, one hopes, every mystery writer.
You're right also on this. The writers Cain influenced might
in the end provide more interesting body of work than those
who followed Chandler's work.
Juri
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