I haven't read many of those early noirs like Phantom Lady,
but the few
I have read seem to bog down with the sheer desperation as
the everyman
protagonist runs here and there to save himself. The sense of
closure
in books of that type tends to leave me less satisfied than
a
hard-boiled mystery with a more self-sufficient lead
character.
Woolrich had no equal in setting a tense, dark mood, though,
and the
sense of doom and foreboding he evokes can really wrench
you.
I thought the fight scenes in THE BLACK DAHLIA were one of
the high
spots of that book (which also has some problems with the
story
lagging). There haven't been that many modern stories that
explore life
in the ring, and I wish Ellroy would revisit that. He also
dealt with
another piece of nearly forgotten Los Angeles lore in that
book--the
Zoot Suit Riots. That event has always seemed to me to be a
seminal
event in the history of institutional bigotry in this
country. I've
been hoping Walter Mosely would deal with it, but it isn't
clear at this
stage if he intends to do more with Easy Rawlins (another
pity).
-- ************************************** Robert E. Skinner, Director Xavier University of Louisiana Library 7325 Palmetto Street New Orleans, LA 70125 (504) 483-7303 (voice) (504) 485-7917 (FAX) e-mail: rskinner@mail.xula.edu ************************************** # # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.