> I had written:
>
>> A masters student in the UK contqacted me a few
days ago and said she
>> recalls reading a comment by Chandler suggesting
that he appreciated
>> Malet and comparing him to Hammett. Any idea
where she might have
>> seen
>> this or is she halucinating?
And Etienne promptly responded (and for that, merci
bien):
> I think your last hypothesis is correct.
Actually, when she wrote me, the hallucination crack was
hers. She seems to have a good sense of humour about this,
and was sharp enough to come to many of the same conclusions
both you and I came to -- that such a comment should be easy
to track down if it were true.
In fact, she may join us one day -- she seemed intrigued when
I described the list.
> As far as I know, Chandler never commented Malet.
Further I do not
> think
> that Malet was even translated into English during
Chandler's lifetime.
> I'm reasonably well "Malet-educated" and came never
across a citation
> about a possible Chandler appraisal. Not in
specialist analysis of
> anything related to Malet, nor in his autobiography:
LA VACHE ENRAGɅ.
> Should have Chandler said something like what you
report, believe me it
> should have been noted in each reprint of Malet's
novels and in each
> analyze of his work.
> Worse than that, the way Malet build his mystery
fictions with his PI
> Nestor Burma is in a way closer to Chandler's
approach than Hammett's.
> Burma can be HB but it is not his only
way.
>
> Of course one could argue that Malet is a French
prolongation of a mix
> between Chandler and Hammett, but he added also in
his works things
> coming from roots having nothing to do with
anglo-saxon HB/noir.
> Neither
> did he pastiche of both Chandler and
Hammett.
>
> On the other hand, "modern" reviewers, lacking
mystery fiction culture,
Hoo boy, tell me about it. If I hear one more wide-eyed
women's study grad student credit Marcia Muller (or Sara
Paretsky or Sue Grafton) with creating the world's first
female private eye (or hearing someone call LAS VEGAS one of
most stylish private eye TV shows of all time)...
And don't get me started on those on-line "reviewers" whose
knowledge of the genre seems to go about as far back as last
Tuesday, and who think a reviewer should really only
summarize a book's plot and characters and never offer an
opinion, because someone's feelings might be hurt and it's
all subjective anyway...
> and supported by false pretense issued by publishers
(in press releases
> or even on the back-cover of the books), could have
at certain moments
> qualify Malet of "heir of Hammett and Chandler..."
or "the French
> Hammett..." or of any bulls...t of the same essence.
As you know,
> today,
> publishers -everywhere- qualify writers with these
two authors names
> that are currently known by the general public (even
if they never read
> any of them).
> So this could be the source of confusion for your
student (?).
Hmmm... she seems a little too sharp to be waylaid by a
blurb. The fact she's trying to track down the source rather
than just repeating it (or dismissing it out of hand) is to
her credit.
Still, it did give us a good excuse to mention Malet again,
one of my favourite non-English language eyes. Imagine
Marlowe as a burned-out radical turned P.I. set loose in
Paris during and just after WWII.
Any English readers wanting to see what the fuss is about
should check out Jacques Tardi's masterful graphic novel
adaptations (in English), which may be easier to track down
(and more fun to read) than the handful of straight text
English translations of the novels Pan released in the late
eighties.
Kevin Burton Smith
"I blog, therefore I am..." http://thrillingdetectiveblog.blogspot.com/
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 18 Jan 2006 EST