Finished this one a few days ago. Mark knew it was the one
with all the literary references in it. Those I mentioned
were in the first few pages. He goes on to mention another
half dozen or so in the rest of the book.
I thought the plot was sorta mediocre, but Markson did a good
job with the characters and it kept my interest throughout.
He's good with his prose, too. A while ago Mario had
mentioned the two schools of hardboiled writing, with
Twain/Hammett/Hemingway on one side of the fence belting it
out sharp and clean, and Chandler on the other with soulful
melody swimming in a sea of similes (shoot me). Mario's
advice to writer-hopefuls was to stick with THH, simply
because it's easier to write and has a potentially longer
shelf life.
Ever since Mario pointed that out, I've been more aware of
the simile/metaphor count in what I read. Markson isn't shy
about belting them out, and I think he carries it off well.
On two pages I count four:
"The street was as hushed as a sickroom."
"The car didn't make any more noise than four flatulent
drunks in a YMCA shower."
"So we sat there stuck together like two halves of a boiled
potato with the water burned out of the pot."
"It was a self-service job, silent as an anaconda slithering
down a cypress, and it got there a lot more quickly than I
wanted it to."
Dick and Mario were familiar with the "difficult" Gaddis book
that Markson mentions. From a little web-surfing, I gather
that Markson finally graduated out of writing
"entertainments" and pounded out a couple of his own
"difficult" novels. I notice that if the reviews for his more
esoteric books mention his earlier hardboiled ones at all,
it's in a forgiving voice of understanding.
miker
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