>Re the discussion on variations on "Red Harvest," you
can add Stephen
> >Hunter's new powerhouse "Pale Horse Coming."
Actually, it's an update >on
>Aeschylus' "Seven Against Thebes." Hunter mentions
this, possibly >as a
>reminder that neither "Red Harvest," nor the novels
that have >come after,
>nor the films "Seven Samurai" and "Magnificent Seven"
have >any real claim
>to originality. Dick Lochte
Thanks for mentioning this. I haven't heard much about
Hunter; is he the film critic from Baltimore or is that
Stephen White? I can't for the life of me remember which is
which. As for originality of the theme, I have to admit to
liking the much maligned "Last Man Standing", however much of
a ripoff it may be; I saw it when I had recently read the
Iliad and liked the epic tones of the thing. There's a point
in the Iliad when Achilles tells Patrocles he would like
everyone else in the world to die, leaving just the two of
them, a theme repeated often enough (Shakespeare's Antony:
"Let Rome in Tiber melt"; Auden - "not universal love but to
be loved alone"). There's a sense in Harvest not only of the
Op's giant "f--- you" to the town but of Hammett the social
agitator saying same to corrupt institutions
everywhere.
Carrie
*****************
"When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was
drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball
Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma,
California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring
afternoon."
-James Crumley, "The Last Good Kiss"
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