As I recall Westlake's Smithsonian speech (which he read, rather than
speaking from notes), he said anyone reading sentences from Chandler
and Hammett aloud should recognize Hammett was the superior writer. I
really will hunt down tomorrow the TAD issue with his article that was
based on the speech and refresh my aging memory on some of its
highpoints.
Richard Moore
--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "jacquesdebierue"
<jacquesdebierue@...> wrote:
>
> Richard, thanks for posting this. In a double interview he did with
> Elmore Leonard, both of them knock Chandler pretty heavily, and (if I
> remember correctly) they aren't crazy about Hammett, either. I am sure
> that they both said that Chandler's sentences suck.
>
> It's interesting that none of these two major crime writers are
> associated with the classic hardboiled mystery writers or with the PI
> tradition.
>
> Now, how many times has the PI gotten killed? No wonder they make him
> so durable.
>
> Best,
>
> mrt
>
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