Woolrich's life was pretty pathetic, living with his mom and what not. But mostly I don't care much about writers' lives. To quote Chandler: "Why do people want biographical material? Why does it matter? And why does a writer have to talk about himself as a person? It's all such a bore." His letter to Edgar Carter, Feb. 5, 1951, is a hilarious parodic response to The Picture Post, which wanted info about Chandler's life. It begins, "Yes, I am exactly like the characters in my books." The Thompson biography is great, though. ---------------------------------------------------------- Michael D. Sharp, Dept. of English, University of Michigan (msharp@umich.edu) On Tue, 20 May 1997, William Denton wrote: > On Tue, 20 May 1997, Richard L. King wrote: > > : Well, I finally called the publisher, Da Capo, and was told that > : yes, it is the same book with a different title. So, for those of > : you who own it already, don't buy it (like I was about to do). It is > : the same thing (and I'm glad it is being republished, I just don't > : know why they had to change the title). > > I bought _Savage Art_, Robert Polito's bio of Jim Thompson, the other > day, and am reading it now. It's full of information about him, with > interviews with relatives and friends, a great deal of historial > research, lengthy quotes from his autobiographical books, and > pictures. Thompson had a hell of a life, at least early on (he just > graduated from high school, and he's already been rich, bankrupt, > tubercular, alcoholic, and hospitalized), and I shudder to think > what's coming up. > > Then I got to flipping through _Hardboiled America_, and O'Brien > summarizes what little was known at the time about Thompson's life in > two pararaphs, saying there's a great deal to be done on the subject. > It struck me that the Thompson revival was pretty big, for him to go > from having little public history to being the subject of an > award-winning (and thick) biography. > > It also got me wondering who, among all the hardboiled writers we talk > about, had the most interesting life. (Or perhaps just early life). > Thompson's was something I'd never want to live; Charles Willeford > ended up living with his grandmother, then ran away during the > Depression and bummed around for a couple of years before joining the > army, getting stationed in the Phillipines, and ending up with a > Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. John D. MacDonald got an MBA or > something, but during the war worked for the OSS (the forerunner of > the CIA) in southeast Asia. I can't remember a lot of details about > Hammett's early life, but his days as a Pinkerton op are well known. > They all seem to have had damned exciting lives, but I wonder if > there's one who stands out over the others, or if one had a > particularly boring life. > > Bill > -- > William Denton : Toronto, Canada : buff@vex.net : Caveat lector. > http://www.vex.net/~buff/ <-- Anything on io.org is toast. > > - > # RARA-AVIS: To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" > # to majordomo@icomm.ca > - # RARA-AVIS: To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" # to majordomo@icomm.ca