<< I do agree with you that slang can sound authentic
when it is properly applied. It is a valid literary device. I
was talking about *abuse of slang*, when the device becomes
too visible and intrudes. In Chandler, piled-up slang is in
conflict with the narrative voice, which is obviously that of
a refined person. If you catch the author "slumming" though
his narrative voice, his credibility diminishes.
>>
Last week I read "Red Harvest" - for the first time,
believe it or not - and although I enjoyed and admired it
enormously, there were times when the
"piled-up slang" (good expression, that) became just too much
and stopped me in my tracks, like roller skating along a
smooth pavement and then coming to a loose gravel drive. When
every other word was a (frankly) phoney-sounding slang term,
I didn't know whether to laugh or snarl; especially since,
all these years after the writing, the meanings and contexts
are no longer always obvious - shit, sometimes the *object*
the term applied to no longer exists!
- Mat C <A HREF="
http://hometown.aol.co.uk/matcoward/myhomepage/newsletter.html">
http://hometown.aol.co.uk/matcoward/myhomepage/newsletter.html
</A>
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