James Rogers (jetan@ionet.net)
Thu, 30 Dec 1999 09:25:45 -0600
At 08:34 AM 12/30/99 -0600, you wrote:
>
>I had Leonard on my list, and I think he's one of the
most important hb
>writers, following the steps of the usual big 3 or 4.
But you raise an
>interesting question as to why he doesn't come up
more often. The only
>thing I can think of is that he's so much with us,
still writing, and his
>body of work and output is much larger than the
"classic" writers of 60
>years ago. Chandler and Hammett and Cain? Not all
that much, really. Ross
>Macdonald? A lot of books, but most of them in one
series. Elmore Leonard?
>Almost yearly, no continuing series (just recurring
characters) for nearly
>thirty years (excluding the westerns, which take you
back to the 50s). He
>has affected contemporary hardboiled language so
much, that perhaps his
>impact will be seen as greater once there's no more
new work and it's time
>to evaluate the influence.
>
I don't wanna fight about it either,
but I cannot recall even the title of a Leonard book I've
read (except for a couple of westerns) and I have read
plenty. I enjoyed them, but they didn't stick with me.
Whereas I'll never be able to forget something like _High
Priest Of California_. I gotta lotta respeck for the guy, but
I haven't yet found a book that insisted on a spot on my A
list.
James
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