Gerald wrote:
"IMO, Chandler ran out of story with THE LITTLE SISTER and
PLAYBACK."
I won't argue about Playback, a cobbled together addendum to
the Marlowe series, but do you mean WITH Little Sister or IN
Little Sister? The Long Goodbye, in my mind Chandler's best
book, came out between these two.
"I could also say that Parker surpasses Chandler in writing a
more accessible, better-rounded character, but I think better
rounded characters are a function of time."
Now that I flat out disagree with. Although we may not know
nearly as many particulars of Marlowe's life as we do
Spenser's, I think we know his character just as well, if not
better.
Even though I think of myself as reading for character, that
doesn't necessarily mean I need to know a lot of specifics
about him. How many
"facts" do we know about Lew Archer or the Continental Op (we
don't even know his name)? And do you really need a long
series to develop a well rounded character? Hammett did it in
one, twice. I'd call both Sam Spade and Ned Beaumont well
rounded characters.
Mark
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