RARA-AVIS: Ability to condense - Gault

To: RARA-AVIS@icomm.ca
Subject: RARA-AVIS: Ability to condense - Gault
From: "M. Taboada" <taboada@math.odu.edu>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 13:21:40 -0500 (EST)
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Reply-To: rara-avis@icomm.ca
Sender: owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca

In a famous (or infamous) essay, Edmund O. Wilson complained about
"padding" by mystery writers, not without justification - I think this
essay is in Haycraft.

After finishing William Campbell Gault's excellent novel "The Day od the
Ram", Wilson's essay came back to me - for Gault is an author who
absolutely does *not* pad his writing. The novel, in all of its 122
pages, sticks to the murder investigation without ever going into
extraneous material, romantic or otherwise, and keeps the ball rolling
in exemplary fashion. I am wondering if what we call "hardboiled" isn't
simply good writing without superfluous interpolations.

When reading Gault, I am distinctly reminded of Haydn's music in its
economical perfection.

In case anyone is interested, this novel has been reissued in England
by No Exit Press.

Regards,
-
# RARA-AVIS:  To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis"
# to majordomo@icomm.ca

Follow-Ups:

Re: RARA-AVIS: Ability to condense - Gault
- From: William Denton <buff@vex.net>

[Archives] | [RARA-AVIS]