RE: RARA-AVIS: Re: Small Crimes

From: Ron Clinton (clinton65@comcast.net)
Date: 12 Mar 2010

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    I have this anthology -- it's titled THE BEST FROM MANHUNT, and the Caldwell story is "In Memory of Judith Courtright." Other authors include Evan Hunter, Jack Ritchie, Richard Prather, Craig Rice, Helen Nielsen, Fletcher Flora, and a half-dozen others.

    And, no, it's been too long since I've read it and have no memory of the Caldwell story -- how good it was, how dark/noir, etc.

    Ron C.

    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com [mailto:rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com] On
    > Behalf Of Jeff Vorzimmer
    > Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 6:48 AM
    > To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
    > Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Small Crimes
    >
    > There was an anthology of stories from Manhunt, which, if I recall
    correctly had a
    > story by Caldwell. I imagine the anthology is pretty hard to find these
    days.
    >
    > Jeff
    > ----- Original Message -----
    > From: <rrandisi@sbcglobal.net>
    > To: <rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com>
    > Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 5:26 PM
    > Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: Small Crimes
    >
    >
    > > I've been looking to buy somecopies of Manhunt lately, and noticed that
    in the
    > Oct. '54 issue there was a story by Erskine Caldwell. That may be old news
    here,
    > but I just saw it.
    > >
    > > RJR
    > >
    > > --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Allan Guthrie" <allan@...> wrote:
    > >>
    > >> Interesting, Dave. There's no denying that paperback originals exploded
    in
    > >> the 50s and gave us a lot of the writers we admire these days. Many of
    those
    > >> writers were struggling to find a hardcover publisher and the pbo
    explosion
    > >> was something of a godsend. I'm not sure how prevalent noir was in the
    50s,
    > >> though. Most paperback originals weren't that dark. Goodis, Thompson,
    etc.,
    > >> were exceptions rather than the norm.
    > >>
    > >> Books like Double Indemnity, How Like A God and Anyone's My Name were
    > highly
    > >> original in concept at the time they were published. These days they'd
    seem
    > >> pretty cliched because they've been imitated so often (I don't know if
    > >> that's true of HLaG, haven't read it, but I suspect if it failed to get
    > >> published it would be on account of the second person narrative rather
    than
    > >> being too dark). Not sure who published Woolrich or Macdonald
    originally,
    > >> but I'm pretty sure Woolrich's first published books weren't crime
    novels.
    > >> Incidentally, Erskine Caldwell's debut -- the ultra-noir THE BASTARD,
    from
    > >> 1929 -- would appear to have been self-published, something I only
    recently
    > >> discovered. Too dark for New York, I suspect. Might also explain why he
    > >> rarely spoke about it.
    > >>
    > >> Al
    > >>
    > >> ----- Original Message -----
    > >> From: "davezeltserman" <Dave.Zeltserman@...>
    > >> To: <rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com>
    > >> Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:03 PM
    > >> Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: Small Crimes
    > >>
    > >>
    > >> > Al, thinking about this a little bit, I'll stick with my original
    > >> > observation, and that's that publishing has changed dramatically over
    the
    > >> > past 25 years, specifically crime fiction, with much more resistance
    by NY
    > >> > to publish dark crime fiction and real noir. Yes, many of the great
    noir
    > >> > books from Jim Thompson, David Goodis, Charles Williams, Dan Marlowe,
    > >> > Peter Rabe, etc. came from Gold Medal and other paperback publishers,
    but
    > >> > at least they existed--today, Hard Case is the only equivalent I can
    think
    > >> > of, and Charles is publishing a tiny fraction of original crime
    fiction
    > >> > compared to Gold Medal. And I'll stick by that books like Dead City,
    > >> > Cain's Postman and Double Indemnity, Seymour Shubin's Anyone's My
    > Name,
    > >> > Rex Stout's How Like a God, all published by NY as hardcovers would
    be
    > >> > just about off limits to NY today. All you have to do is look at the
    most
    > >> > popular PI from the 50s, Mike Hammer, and the last 25 years, Spenser,
    to
    > >> > see how much crime fiction changed. Btw. who published Cornell
    Woolrich
    > >> > and Ross Macdonald originally?
    > >> >
    > >> > --Dave
    > >>
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > ------------------------------------
    > >
    > > RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
    > > Yahoo! Groups Links
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    >
    >
    >
    > ------------------------------------
    >
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