RARA-AVIS: Re: I've finally begun THE HOT ROCK...

From: trentrey (trent@violentworldofparker.com)
Date: 13 Mar 2009

  • Next message: Stephen Burridge: "Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: I've finally begun THE HOT ROCK..."

    Jim:

    Thanks for the kind words about the site.

    I don't have any coverage of The Hot Rock up yet, but plan on some soon as it's long overdue. But since the Parker connection has come up, this seems like an opportune time to try to take advantage of this message boards' knowledge base.

    Does anyone know of an interview or introduction written by Westlake where he discusses how an attempted Parker became The Hot Rock? I've heard it mentioned many times but the only reference I have found in print is in Brian Garfield's (excellent) introduction to the Gregg Press edition of The Outfit. All that says is:

    "But it is interesting to note that Westlake's "Dortmunder" series of comedy-caper novels, beginning with The Hot Rock (1970), grew out of the Parker stories. Westlake sat down one day to start writing the next Richard Stark novel, decided that the situation in the plot was too funny to let pass, and converted Parker into Dortmunder, Grofield into Kelp, and the tough plot into a comedy."

    When I do write up The Hot Rock, it would be great to include more detailed information, especially if it came straight from Westlake. Anyone seen anything like that?

    --Trent

    --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, JIM DOHERTY <jimdohertyjr@...> wrote:
    >
    >
    > Re Todd's message below:
    >
    > "The first Dortmunder novel, of course, by Donald Westlake...and what surprises me most is how broad the comedy is, at least in the early chapters that Westlake apparently set aside for a while. (I've read a number of Dortmunder stories, out of order, but the latter-day works are somewhat subtler.) Haven't seen the film version yet, either, as I was consciously putting that off till after reading the book."
    >
    > Most of you probably already know this, and our new member, Mr. Trent, could probably give you more details on the metamorphisis, but for those of you who aren't aware of it, THE HOT ROCK started out as a dead serious Parker novel. Westlake's original idea was to see how Parker would handle the frustration if he had to steal the same item over and over again. But the book kept, as Westlake later put it, "wanting to be funny," and a Parker novel just CAN'T be funny.
    >
    > Rather than risk having his diamond-hard gangster come off as ridiculous, Westlake created a comedic doppelganger, Dortmunder, the master criminal with constant hard luck who became his most popular series character.
    >
    > By the way, when Mr. Trent introduced himself, although he mentioned the address of his very good website, he didn't provide a link. Here it is:
    >
    > http://violentworldofparker.com/
    >
    > Great site. Heartily recommended for Parker fans.
    >
    > JIM DOHERTY
    >



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