--- Miles Archer <
marcher@bctonline.com> wrote:
> 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.
Of course, it's like anything else -- what the writer does
with it. There's no reason *necessarily* that a cuddly
domestic PI with a badass sidekick who does all the heavy
lifting couldn't be good or great.
> 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.)
Well, it's hard to argue with that on a general level. Of
course,"similar" doesn't mean "exactly the same". I no longer
read Parker, but I remember that in his heyday (which I would
say was late Seventies/early Eighties) he wrote a number of
books that varied his formula: EARLY AUTUMN, LOOKING FOR
RACHEL WALLACE, even A CATSKILL EAGLE. Whether they were good
or not is another question, of course: the point is that they
were different.
The McGee books have a lot of things in common from volume to
volume, but within the series there's changes of tone,
variations. Novels 2-5 mostly take place outside of Florida,
in BURNT ORANGE he's rescuing a guy, not a girl; there are
various moments of self-doubt or self-criticism in LAVENDER,
GREEN, TAN, and SILVER, etc. I guess I would say you're
right, but only so far as it goes.
(I think the best case for your thought is the other
Macdonald, Ross. Plots and situations reoccur so often that
it's hard to keep the various books straight. If you've read
them, do you remember the *specific* plot points of IVORY
GRIN and INSTANT ENEMY, say? Who did what to whom?
(I don't mean that as a knock on the guy, see below.)
>
> 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.
Certainly a lot of authors fit your description, and if you
don't like their motifs, you won't like the series. I'm
currently rereading a lot of Stout's Nero Wolfe books (only
sorta HB). The books are very similar; even the biggest fans
of the series admit this. Often the specifics of the plots
seem casual at best. (Why exactly were the murders done in
GOLDEN SPIDERS again?)
But that doesn't make them bad, formula doesn't equal
"crap". Although there are standout books in the series (I
would say SOME BURIED CAESAR, TOO MANY COOKS, THE DOORBELL
RANG, maybe a few others) the lesser ones are still quite
good, and really I think you have to judge Stout's
achievement by the series as a whole. It's really one book:
"the Nero Wolfe book".
(I think this of Ross Macdonald, as well.)
Sorry about the length of the post; have a bit of time on my
hands today, and these have been some interesting
questions.
doug
>
> Guess that's why they make chocolate _and_
vanilla.
>
> Miles
>
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===== Doug Bassett
dj_bassett@yahoo.com
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