on 12/3/03 10:18 AM, Bludis Jack at
buildsnburns@yahoo.com wrote:
<<>>
> Parker's contribution, I think, is the
domestic
> other life and the violent sidekick.
<<>>
I'm not sure 'contribution' is the word I'd use. Hmmm...
'adulteration'?
'Pollution'? It'll come to me...
Suffice to say, I don't think much of either device, let
alone their constant repetition from book to book.
Which brings this question to mind:
While we're members of this list because, perforce, we enjoy
hardboiled, noir, (call-it-what-you-will) fiction, would
anyone argue with me over this statement?
Many authors in the genre write the same book, over and over.
(Of course, I'm not defining 'many', so take it to mean more
than 50% of the whole.)
Is that what has served to make them popular? The readers'
confidence when purchasing that they will get a 'type x'
story from 'author Y'? (I'm thinking of the recently
mentioned Parker, MacDonald(s), Spillane, et al. You could
add Grafton, of course, and any number of others, although
even Grafton does not repeat her literary devices quite as
relentlessly as, say, Parker does. Short of character names,
locations, and plot details, you could pretty much switch one
Spenser book for another. I'd say the same for Travis McGee.
(Make up your own list and insert here.)
Of course, there are any number of authors who write outside
of the bibliography with which they are most closely
identified. And, in point of fact, many authors resort to pen
names for this very reason.
But I admit to flinching a bit when I hear certain
authors/series/characters mentioned with unabashed
enthusiasm. (Not that I'm accusing Jack of that. I wouldn't
accuse Jack of anything.) It's just that I find their schtick
gets old pretty fast.
Guess that's why they make chocolate _and_ vanilla.
Miles
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