Re: RARA-AVIS: Public Acclaim - Robert Bloch

From: Ron Clinton ( r-and-jclinton@email.msn.com)
Date: 28 Apr 2000


db pool is full

Doug wrote:
> I've never been a fan of Robert Bloch's work, and I've
> long thought that the acclaim he enjoyed was mainly
> due to Hitchcock's PSYCHO, a far better work of art
> than the original book.

I'd sure have to disagree on both points. While Hitchcock's movie had a fine visual style and it certainly more memorable because of it, it didn't capture the sociopathic menace of the character the way the book did. The book of course was based on real killer Ed Gein and I think captured the true spirit of the evil mind more than the film, which - while an admirable effort - seemed at times almost cartoonish and two-dimensional.

As far as the late Bloch's other works, I'd suggest and recommend any of his short-story collections, the venue in which he truly shined as a writer. His 3-vol. collection, THE SELECTED STORIES OF ROBERT BLOCH
(Underwood-Miller) (aka THE COMPLETE STORIES OF ROBERT BLOCH (Citadel Twilight tpb)) is a landmark in genre fiction and a legacy any author would be supremely proud to leave behind.

Ron Clinton

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