Undoubtedly, Ross Macdonald did abuse metaphor and simile in
several of his Chandlerian novels (the first six mysteries,
if I'm counting right). It's as bad in Macdonald as it is in
Chandler -- were one to look at it objectively. But I cannot
look objectively at Chandler. His writing has such hypnotic
charm (alert) that he has me eating out of his hand (alert)
like a (alert) just-adopted-puppy.
So yeah, we all know that heavy doses of metaphor can screw
up and even spoil a writer's work; the miracle is that
sometimes it doesn't.
Anecdotally, I have noticed that contemporary master Donald
Westlake almost completely avoids metaphor and simile. In
that, too, he is a Twain-Hemingway-Hammett disciple. And
Elmore Leonard, a very different kind of master, is another
who avoids those tricks. People don't talk like that, so why
write like that? The modern reader has little patience.
Finally, the Chandlerian-style figures of speech should
probably be retired from circulation in crime fiction.
Regards, and sorry for rambling.
MrT
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