Mark:
"However, you've set up an unfair contrast to make your
point. You are comparing the best of the Cain line with the
worst of the Hammett/Chandler would-be heirs. Cain and his
more worthy followers have also had a lot of crappy
imitators, full of gratuitous viciousness and overdoses of
misogyny, bad imitations of the surface traits without
offering any of the substance beneath. "
Yes, you're right, but I also do feel that the best imitators
of Chandler and Hammett are less interesting than the writers
who were imitating Cain.
This said I can't really place someone like James Ellroy into
this pattern. He started off with Chandler/Macdonald, but
became something else. There are also number of very good
authors who don't fit into either category, even though have
been influenced by either or both (for example
Pelecanos).
"From what I hear, Thompson and Cain themselves wrote a
number of bad books late in their careers (I've only read the
good, earlier stuff by each)."
Yes, I've gathered as much. Thompson's "The Alcoholics" from
early sixties was pretty bad and I've read that the books
didn't actually get better.
Dave Z:
you are much more read in the genre than I am. Thanks for
your message about Thompson, Faulkner etc.
Juri
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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