Neil asked:
>Having seen several posts similar to this so far, I
have to ask--What
>exactly is the trouble with "style" here? Granted, I
agree that
>Ellroy's more recent work since My Dark Places has
gotten parodic and
>tedious (especially the GQ stuff), but I think LAC
and, a step above
>that, White Jazz, work great because of this hyper,
scat-singing,
>broken style. Is there a problem then with style in
general?
>Experimentation? What?
Well, there's nothing wrong with style. Chandler had it.
Thompson had it. Hammett had it. Any writer worth reading
usually has it. I think Chandler once said something like
"for a writer, style is everything."
I liked what Ellroy was trying to do in those books, and I
loved the whole vibe of White Jazz, but it's a trick that
became old real fast. At least to me. The fact Ellroy's books
seem to be getting longer and longer as Ellroy becomes more
and more lost in his obsessions (in between People magaziner
interviews about how he's becoming more and more lost in his
obsessions ) doesn't help either. You don't need five hours
to pull a rabbit out of a hat, and you certainly shouldn't
take six hours to do the same trick two years later, and
expect people to act like they've never seen it done
before.
When the style overshadows the writing, when it completely
dominates the story,it's time to pull back. And, of course,
not all style is cool. A lot depends on the writers, and how
well the style is used, as well as the style itself. ee
cummings did all lower case, mostly in short blasts of
poetry, and it worked. In the hands of lesser writers, in
prose for instance, it just comes off as adolescent and
pretentious and sloppy.
But experimentation? That's a whole different kettle of fish.
I'd guess most people read pop fiction to be entertained,
maybe learn a little something, gain some insight maybe. I
would wager most people don't pick up DICK STEELE CRACKS THE
CASE OF THE GUY WHO SHOT PEOPLE A LOT or something like that,
hoping to see how someone has deconstructed and reconstructed
the novel. In other words, save the self-indulgent wanking
for "real" literature -- we want, to borrow a phrase and get
right down to it, "plots with guns."
--
Kevin Burton Smith The Thrilling Detective Web Site http://www.thrillingdetective.com
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