----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Lynskey" <
e_lynskey@yahoo.com> To: <
rara-avis@icomm.ca> Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2003
10:59 AM Subject: RARA-AVIS: EPITAPH FOR A TRAMP
> miker:
>
> Interesting post.
>
> I just finished reading Ross Macdonald's A
MOVING
> TARGET (1949) and thought about the
metaphors/similes
> you write about here. RM's prose here is
liberally
> sprinkled with them. Most are restrained enough
so
> it was more the volume of them that jarred
the
> narrative's smoothness.
>
> For instance, at one place he writes about the
"acne
> of rust" on an automobile. That's short and
vivid.
>
> Still, reading RM is always a real treat.
>
> Ed Lynskey
It's interesting that you should pick that exact phrase -
it's one of the quotes that Raymond Chandler used as an
example of Macdonald's
"pretentious" literary style in a brief and curmudgeonly
dismissal of his disciple's style. Chandler also quotes
Macdonald's use of the word
"graffiti" (or was it "graffito"? same diff -presumably
graffito is singular. Not sure if I have correct spelling
here) in the same context, i.e. Macdonald's "pretentious"
style. It leads me to wonder whether
"graffiti" was really such a rare word in the 1950's (?) or
if grouchy old Ray was completely out of touch with the
modern world (of that time). And miker: if you want to see
some one really go to town on Chandlerian metaphors, you want
to read Phillip Kerr's BERLIN NOIR trilogy, in particular the
first volume, MARCH VIOLETS. An excellent trilogy but, to
paraphrase Goering (or was it Goebbels? I always confuse the
2 when it comes to quotes - similarity of names, not to
mention the fact that both were, allegedly, testicularly
challenged) ever time I saw a metaphor I wanted to reach for
my Luger. It's not that they were bad (although some were
incomprehensible - a little too specifically Teutonic for my
understanding)but that there were too goddamned !#$%^&*
many of them! Also, I read them both a long time ago but from
memory I would think you would also like ILL WIND if you
liked VIOLENT SATURDAY. It was also reprinted in the 80's by
Black Lizard.
Rene
-- # To unsubscribe from the regular list, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # majordomo@icomm.ca. This will not work for the digest version. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 17 Jan 2003 EST