>Indulge me, I have a weak spot for
Chandler.
> When I start thinking that he wasn't *that* good I
reread a
> couple of stories and my faith comes back,
intact.
I will never understand this, because I should love the stuff
without question, but I always have trouble getting through
the Chandler work. I read it, and it's so nice, but I just
get stuck, and I've never known why, exactly.
> Crumley has never declared himself against the PI
grain. He
> works those same fields, after all. As to Ellroy,
his
> Brown's Requiem is very close to the PI tradition
of
> Chandler-Ross Macdonald.
Well, I still think Crumley's work shows an extreme take on
the PI idea that doesn't fit in with your run of the mill
P.I.s, even if he hasn't declared it. And Ellroy did indeed
start out as an imitator of the big guys, sure, I know, but
then he switched gears, probably with Black Dahlia. What I
meant was that it is impossible to dismiss Chandler like the
post attmepted to do, because even in the work that reacts to
what he did and works in new ideas, the respect for Chandler
is still there.
Has anyone writing in the hb/noir field just out and out said
that Chandler reeks? I'd be interested in reading that work,
see how they try to get away from the shadow. I know Ellroy
eventually distanced himself by saying that Chandler was
awful, but by then, he had already invested himself with the
guy's tradition, so too late. What about someone just
starting out?
I won't be the one to dismiss him. The Long Goodbye alone is
enough to make him worth all the attention.
Neil
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