It was Eudora Welty who reviewed Ross Macdonald's THE
UNDERGROUND MAN so famously in 1971 for the New York Times
Sunday Book Review. It was, I believe, the first time a
mystery was given the front page review.
The next good thing to happen to Macdonald that year was a
cover story for Newsweek. This was the first cover story on a
mystery writer by a major news weekly since Craig Rice graced
the cover of Time Magazine. I obtained a copy of the overseas
addition of Newsweek when I was in Vietnam and managed to
hang on to it all of these years. I remember thinking at the
time that the literary establishment always seemed to have
one mystery writer that was anointed as the "approved"
one---the one that could be read in public. The position had
been vacant since the death of Chandler.
Little did I know that this was actually something close to
the truth. It was about 15 years after the fact that I heard
Donald Westlake give a talk sponsored by the Smithsonian in
Washington in which he said the acclaim for Macdonald was
part of a conspiracy by the literary establishment. This talk
Westlake later turned into an article for The Armchair
Detective which kicked up a fair amount of dust in that he
also said the PI novel was basically dead. Westlake's remarks
still seemed to me touched by more than a little hyperbole
although I agreed with his statement that Macdonald
afterwards rewrote the same novel over and over again no
matter what anyone said. "Talk about hard-boiled!" Westlake
joked.
But readers of Tom Nolan's indispensable biography ROSS
MACDONALD learned that there was no exaggeration. There was a
conspiracy. The leader was critic John Leonard then an
assistant editor of the NY Times Book Review. Over drinks he
and Newsweek critic Ray Sokolov decided to launch a "literary
conspiracy" to promote Macdonald who had married Freud to the
detective story.
The campaign began with a major review of Macdonald's THE
GOODBYE LOOK. Leonard had to convince the editor that
Macdonald was worth it. He managed that task and then steered
the assignment to screenwriter William Goldman, a big
Macdonald fan (and scripter of "Harper"). In addition to the
review, Leonard later did a full scale
interview/profile.
By the time THE UNDERGROUND MAN neared release, Leonard was
editor of the book review section and needed no one's
permission. He learned at a writer's conference that Welty
was a big Macdonald fan and gave her an unusual amount of
space to work with as well as the section front page. Welty
had been corresponding with Macdonald for a few months having
written him a fan letter. She even showed him the review for
comment before it was published. It was ironically enough
published on St. Valentine's Day.
The Newsweek cover story came shortly after that with the
writer being Ray Sokolov. Even though his daughter's tragic
life and death were important to understanding Macdonald's
work, the decision was made to mention her death only in a
passing reference. Given there was a young grandson who knew
little about his mother's life, I think they were right to do
so.
As for the aftermath, I think bestsellerdom may have ruined
any chance Macdonald had for future creative growth. I say
"may" because it may be that Macdonald had already peaked as
a writer and his later novels would not have improved even if
he had missed out on the celebrity and unquestioning
acclaim.
I have to say this is a bit of a hobbyhorse for me as I think
the bestseller list has ruined many a writer. Writers become
self-imitators trying to recapture what got them the success.
It is the way of imitators, self and otherwise, to imitate
bad qualities as well as the good.
Another example, in my opinion, of this cycle is John D.
MacDonald. I think it was Kurt Vonnegut (no stranger to
paperback originals) who stated somewhere that John D.
MacDonald didn't write for the critics, he wrote for the
people who bought their novels at the bus station or the PX.
Vonnegut nailed a real truth. And we learned how true it was
when MacDonald began to listen to the critics who finally
turned their eyes his way. 'Isn't it neat', they cooed, 'how
JDM manages to work in some social commentary into his
thrillers. He has a Harvard MBA, don't you know.' From that
Goddamned day forth, JDM's loyal fans had to wade through
reams of Meyer commentary while praying the story would
resume in another ten pages or so.
On a more positive note, I think the success of Macdonald
paved the way for mystery writers to reach a broader
audience. Before Macdonald, mystery writers on the bestseller
list were rarities and those getting critical acclaim even
rarer. I think the attention paid Macdonald made it easier
for critics to treat seriously the next generation of
writers.
Richard Moore
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