Mario wrote: Miker, I place West within a specifically Jewish
tradition. To the classic "I'm getting screwed", this
tradition adds
"And I'm a schmuck". In Goodis, you just have the getting
screwed thing. There is no irony. It's an important
difference. Another difference is that West was a much more
sophisticated writer than Goodis, more cerebral. With Goodis,
you get the raw picture of the loser thrashing about; with
West (as with Willeford, an important parallel), you get a
smart and articulate observer telling you about the
schmuck.
************ Thanks for commenting, Mario. There's been some
interesting connections to ponder in the last few I've read.
I thought some about the similarities and the differences in
O'Hara's APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA and West's MISS LONELYHEARTS.
Both portray the leading characters acting badly in an
environment that's pretty darned bad itself, and I don't
think either of the characters really know why they're acting
so poorly. An obvious difference between the two characters
is that, while Miss Lonelyhearts is all too aware of the
horror show he is living in, Julian English appears clueless
all the way to the end. There's a big difference in the
problems that are por- trayed, too. Julian lives in a world
of hypocritical and shallow upper-middle class snobbery,
whereas Miss Lonely- hearts's world, by the nature of his
job, is dominated by unbelievable suffering of the lower
classes, and an incredibly calloused and uncaring attitude in
almost everybody else.
Oh! I could even throw in the book I'm reading now, Cald-
well's TOBACCO ROAD. This is essentially a long, long letter
to Miss Lonelyhearts, with a dose of wicked humor and satire
thrown in for fun.
I shouldn't be talking about this in 20's month, should I?
I'm using up all my good lies I should be saving for the
30's. ;-)
Sorry about accidentally reposting Mario's commment.
miker
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