--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Michael Robison
<miker_zspider@y...> wrote:
> The subject of writer skill in characterization
has
> been brought up. In the two novels I read
of
> Macdonald's, I saw nothing that exceeded the grace
and
> style with which Chandler sketched General
Sternwood
> at the beginning of THE BIG SLEEP. The talent
that
> Chandler shows in that scene ranks right up there
with
> the best of Hemingway. Chandler might have had
some
> faults, both as a writer and a person, but when he
was
> hot, he was steaming.
Not to disagree with that particular statement, because I see
a lot of similarities in Chandler and Hemingway, but the
irony of it gave me a smile. In FAREWELL, MY LOVELY, Marlowe
gets annoyed with one character and keeps calling him
Hemingway. When the guy demands to know why, Marlowe says
something to the effect of "He's a guy who repeats everything
until you think he's intelligent." An amusing dig at
Hemingway, but I also noticed that both started writing a
more spartan style (by the standards of the day) than was
fashionable at about the same time.
Of course, next to Hemingway, most writers look like Anne
Rice in terms of overwriting.
Jim Winter
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