At 09:37 AM 5/15/02 -0700, you wrote:
>--- Brian Thornton <
tieresias@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> > Also, while Chandler is cited over and over
again as
> > a leading influence in
> > Parker's work, I think that Hammett's influence
gets
> > overlooked.
>
>I think this probably happens because of what
Parker
>himself says of his work. I can't quote
him
>precisely, but he's basically said that his
first
>couple of Spenser novels were Chandler
imitations.
>When he got stuck wondering what to do next, he'd
ask
>himself what Marlowe would do, and have Spenser
do
>that. As far as I know, he's never cited Hammett
as
>an influence, although his Ph.D. Dissertation was
on
>"The Big Three," so he certainly knew Hammett's
work.
>The only other writer he ever cited as
influential
>that I know of is J.F. Cooper, and even there I
don't
>think he was talking about his own work so much as
the
>genre in general.
>I'm not familiar with J.F. Cooper, and after
re-reading 'Red Harvest', I
>think the similarities between Spenser and Hammett's
Continental Op are
>even more striking. Spenser, while wry in his
assessments of the human
>condition, just isn't as bitter as Marlowe. It could
just be me, though.
Brian
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