Willeford wrote that "I had a hunch that madness was a
predominant
theme and normal condition for Americans living in the second
half of
this century". This was about his 1963 paranoid classic, "The
Machine
In Ward Eleven" and was over twenty years before he wrote the
Hoke
books. Even then he knew what he was saying.
Willeford said n an interview (quoted in Crimetime 9, pg.
36)
that; "A good half of the men you deal with in the Army
are
psychopaths. There's a pretty heft overlap between the
military
population and the prison population, so I knew plenty of
guys like
Junior in `Miami Blues' and Troy in `Sideswipe'...[when they
finish
their tour]..they just can't turn it off and go to work n a
7-11. If
you're good with weapons or something in the Army, you're
naturally
gonna do something with weapons when you get out, whether
it's being
a cop or a criminal".
Willeford's theme - well one of them - is the sexually
obsessive man,
the competitive man, the intelligent man who must prove
himself better
then others. This is a man who cannot live quietly and is all
to real.
He is a man who chooses to do bad and there are many like
them.
Willeford is a great writer because he tells his story
without
us realising he is doing so. He became critically acclaimed
in his
life time and had the respect of his peers. He was just
breaking into
the big time when he died. His novels are imperfect but all
the time
they showed great improvement. What could have been. The fact
that he
wrote for the pulps - and his books were cheap - shouldn't
hide this
fact. There was nothing minor about them. Nor, for that
matter, have
his books anything to do with `magic realism' - a
completely
unconvincing description of anything let alone Willeford.
Reality in
abundance but magic implies fantasy or sleight of hand -
with
Willeford what you see is what you get.
On a final note: should Ned go? Well, Ned, I've e-mailed you
about
what I felt to be an unnecessarily OTT response to my e-mail
in which
I questioned your point of view. We should stick to the list
rules and
e-mail people direct with our quibbles and not bother the
good people
of this list with them. But Ned, you didn't answer my
question - if
the Hoke books are `minor' in the genre (whoops, there's that
word
again) then which books are `major'? This needs an answer
because your
statement "they are minor" implies there is something `major'
- or
didn't you intend it to actually make sense?
----------------------------------
Check out the Crimetime web site.
www.crimetime.demon.co.uk/
There's always time for crime
-----------------------------------
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