I wrote yesterday that Micahel and I will just have to agree
to disagree about the values of Ross Macdonald's post-Galton
Case novels (I think they are good, very good). However,
Dixon makes a very good point about John MacDonald's
sermonizing, that it is actually more overt than Ross's AND
that it is one of the joys of the Travis McGee series. Also,
it is often just an aside, has nothing to do with the plot,
triggered by something, like a strip mall, that sets Travis
off while he is driving around.
This led me to look again at Michael's list. How is Chester
Himes any less "preachy" than either of these two writers?
I've only read his crime novels, not his more serious
fiction, but even (especially?) these, Run Man Run and the
Harlem novels, have a lot to say about relationships between
race, crime and justice. In many of the Harlem books,
particularly later in the series, like Blind Man with a
Pistol, Himes's characters lecture the reader just as much as
Travis AND that is part of what makes the books great.
As a matter of fact, I'd argue that Ross incorporates his
"sermonizing" into his books more fluidly than John D or
Himes. Although he is clearly interested in exploring the
depths of the human psyche and has some clear points of view
about the psychological sins of the father (or mother) being
visited on the son (or daughter), I don't remember his ever
"explaining" it, preaching the gospel of Freud and Jung. John
and Himes preach all the time. Part of it is that their
characters are more preachers than Archer, but part of it is
just underlining their points, making sure no one misses
them. (Again, this is not a criticism, I love reading these
"rants.")
Mark
-- # To unsubscribe from the regular list, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # majordomo@icomm.ca. This will not work for the digest version. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 29 Aug 2001 EDT