Re: RARA-AVIS: Noir humor

fwillard@mindspring.com
Mon, 23 Feb 98 12:33:02 -0500 In <34F1620C.1B1F@sprintmail.com>, on 02/23/98
at 11:48 AM, Mario Taboada <matrxtech@sprintmail.com> said: <snip>
>I also think that Willeford was viciously funny in his novels. He must
>have been conscious of it...though he never quite gets down to parody.

>But how about Latimer?

I can't speak for Latimer, but in my estimation Willeford's dark humor is
so well constructed that it must have been labored over long and hard. It
seems to spring so effortlessly from the situations he conjures up, it's
easy to miss the set up fifty pages back.

Something that was as good as his vicious humor was his ability to
construct narrative voices which relentlessly refused to mug to the
reader. I think that's probably why the humor is so effective.

Fred

PS to the list. I took some time off to finish a novel. I'm glad to be
back and reading this excellent list. --
-----------------------------------------------------------
Down on Ponce by Fred Willard
fwillard@mindspring.com
http://fwillard.home.mindspring.com/
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