#Lawrence Block: Matt Scudder's NY is not to be triffled
with.
#Armstrongs,
Hells Kitchen, the nightmare'ish walk around the sleeze of
42nd St in
"A Dance at the Slaughterhouse". not to mention Matt - and
Bernies -
bench in Bryant Park (a deffinate photo opportunity) #Jerome
Charyn:
One of - if not the - top NY writers. Check this out:
"Issac stood on the esplanade in Brooklyn Heights, looking
out at the
lost horizons of Lower Manhattan, crazy castles of srone and
glass"
(From "Montezuma's Man"). Charyns vision of NY is the most
enduring
and sustained. Whilst driving over the Willamsburg Bridge in
a taxi in
"Marylin the Wild" Chryn comes up with: "The black water
under the cab
swelled up liked overcooked blood". # Vasch: The Burke books
# Chester
Himes # Tucker Coe # Jason Starr's excellent debut novel
"Cold Caller"
# Ed McBain # Thomas Boyle's wonderful 'Brooklyn Triolgy'
...to name
but a few. and then there are the great NY noir movies: "The
Big
Clock", "The Asphalt Jungle", "Edge of Doom", Killer's Kiss",
"Naked
City" nad the more modern noir: "Bad Leiutenant", "Klute",
"Taxi
Driver" et al.
Hammett and Jim Thompson were regular visiters - both
basically to run
away from a lot of hassle elsewhere but both, intriguingly,
heavily
involved with left wing and CPUSA activities. they almost
certianly
knew the same people. wonder if their paths ever
crossed?
My idea, and what makes NY such an important setting for so
many films
and books is that a lot of hardboiled novels are about chaos
beneath
the surface, the violent disorder of big city existance, the
idea that
there os little if ant redemption to be found. Sometimes an
individual
like Charyn's Issac Siddel, Block's Scuddr, Vasch's Burke etc
try some
version of salvation - often leaving a lot of bodies in their
wake.
Still, cant wait to hit those bookshops.
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Not that Peter Walker, the other one....
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