George Upper:
>
> Every edition of the Spenser novels I've ever
seen
> lists all the books in order. However, some of
them
> list them starting with the most recent and
others
> starting with THE GODWULF MANUSCRIPT, the first
book.
> The latter arrangement makes some sense to me, being
a
> pretty linear and orderly (my students would read
that
> as "anal retentive") guy, but the latter confuses
me
> no matter how many times I see them that
way.
I think I have the first paperback printing. It's by Berkley
in Sep 1979. It lists them in this order:
GOD SAVE THE CHILD THE GODWULF MANUSCRIPT THE JUDAS GOAT
MORTAL STAKES PROMISED LAND
(THREE WEEKS IN SPRING - written with his wife and not a
Spenser book)
GOD SAVE. is the second, GODWULF is the first, JUDAS is the
fifth, MORTAL is the third and PROMISED is the fourth. It
seems the books are listed pretty randomly..
>
> I pretty much agree. I think that after THE
WIDENING
> GYRE (book ten) Parker consciously attempts to
make
> Spenser into a mythical character.
I think Parker's problem is his creation of Hawk. Shakespeare
knew enough to kill off Mercutio, but Parker hasn't done that
with Hawk. Maybe all the mythologizing, Susan's separation
and even Pearl the Wonder Dog are attempts to make us care
about Spenser when the most compelling character is
Hawk.
I've read only the first twenty books in the series. I
don't think Hawk's background or life is ever mentioned at
any length.. I think Robert Crais realized the necessity of
doing this in LA REQUIEM which was mainly about his Hawklike
character, Joe Pike. Because Parker identifies so with
Spenser I don't think will ever do this because it would
acknowledge the character Spenser is not particularly
interesting. Mark .
>
> =====
> George C. Upper III, Editor
> The Lightning Bell Poetry Journal
> http://www.lightningbell.org/
>
>
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