In a message dated 11/26/2002 12:43:04 PM Eastern Standard
Time,
Robison_M@crane.navy.mil writes:
> Crime Time appears to be the kind
> of magazine that would appeal to many here. Woody
Haut
> writes
> about Edward Anderson (THIEVES LIKE US).
I just finished THIEVES LIKE US, after reading THE POSTMAN
ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, and THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY?, and
found Anderson's tale of bank robbers in the depression
southwest to be compelling. It wasn't as "hard to put down"
as the Cain or the McCoy, and it seemed more "dated" than
those two, but it still was a good read. One of the things I
look for in any fiction is the ability of the author to make
me care about what happens to the characters, and Anderson
did well at this, making Bowie a sympathetic focus of the
novel. It was easy to understand his motivations and
actions.
Regarding the dated or 1930's feel to the novel, I don't
always view this as a negative, and certainly didn't in this
case. The 1930's era has always been of supreme interest to
me, both because I used to teach high school history and
because my parents and grandparents used to always tell such
interesting stories of the time and place. It's probably not
beyond the realm of possibility that some of my ancestors
might not have gone the THIEVES LIKE US route to survive.
Which is partly Anderson's point, I think. The overwhelming
bad times of the Great Depression seems to have produced a
large number of writers who could sympathize with the
downtrodden and the underdog and even the criminal.
My own take is a little more to the right of these 1930's
guys, but then had I lived through those times I would
probably have viewed the world in a manner similar to theirs.
Interestingly enough, the brief biography on Anderson at the
back of Library of America's CRIME NOVELS OF THE 30'S AND
40'S mentions that at the end of his life he "espoused
extreme right wing political views, along with religious
beliefs based on Swedenborgianism". I am unaware of the term,
can anyone enlighten me? Steven (off to search engine for
"Swedenborgianism")
Regarding the Anderson article, how do I get in touch with
Crime Time to order a copy? If this has already been
mentioned on the list I apologize.
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 27 Nov 2002 EST