Hi Kevin (and all)
Partly my point was that here is a very successful author who
has used a VERY familiar structure and story, time and again
and sold tons of books around it. But to drill a bit deeper,
re: cliches, I think a thing needs to be popularized before
it's considered cliche. (If the butler always did it but no
one was aware of the fact, would it still be cliche? If we
all forgot every aspect of popular culture as soon as we were
exposed to it, there would be no cliches. ) re: Parkers use
of the aforementioned, I'm not begrudging Parker for
popularizing the cliches, nor for making them palatable, nor
even for selling a whopping number of books by it. I've read
them all and for the most part enjoyed them, although I felt
they were a little fluffy. IMO. For the rest, I think I
understand you to be saying that Parker invented many of the
cliches he employs. That's okay, but my point was that I feel
that he recycles them a little too frequently, and it has
made his later works a bit TOO familiar.
Best Regards, Erick
---------------------------
> As for Erick's comment that Parker's stuff is
cliché²idden? I dunno.
> Half the cliché³ Parker's always accused of, he
popularized. He
> certainly took a few more chances with the form than
a lot of his
> contemporaries. No, they weren't always successful
innovations, but
> they sure were influential in the genre. So somebody
must have liked
> them.
>
>
>
>
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