thanks Mark. I look forward to reading Bruen. I recognize
that there are different forms of
nonsense/absurdity/randomness--supernatural, surreal, the
"aburdity of real life" (Willeford sometimes seems that way),
and even the postmodern form (Bartheleme, for one). To
paraphrase that Wilde quote: it's not whether or not writing
is absurd, it's whether or not the absurd writing is
good.
But i also agree with your & Kevin's point that
contrivance is usually indicative of laziness. When i read a
plot element that seems annoyingly contrived, i tend to
wonder if it felt that way to the author. i.e. is artificial
writing a willingness to settle for a contrivance or is it an
inability to sniff out one's own b.s.?
---
DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net wrote:
> David wrote:
>
> "i haven't read Bruen, but this sounds kind of
like
> what i was getting
> at when i said that certain authors sometimes
make
> good sense of
> nonsense. i am thinking of books like A Wild
Sheep's
> Chase by Murakami,
> for one, or anything by Steve Erickson for
another,
> though these books
> aren't strictly noir."
>
> Bruen isn't really comparable to these two.
There
> is no sense of the
> supernatural, as with Murakami, or the surreal,
as
> with Erickson (well,
> maybe a touch of the surreal, I could certainly
see
> one of these books
> featuring Breton's gun being shot into a
crowd).
> There are no sci-fi
> elements at all. The Brant novels are
definitely
> set in this world.
> It's just that the characters are sometimes
larger
> than life and the
> situations are sometimes on the absurd side, but
the
> absurdity of real
> life -- there is little of the imposed
structure
> that Kevin recently
> described fiction as having. Yes, the reader
is
> told the solution of
> whatever the given crime is in a partcular
book
> (even if the cops might
> not solve it, a killer being randomly killed
before
> being caught, or
> moving away, etc), but the crime is not the
real
> appeal, but the
> characters and the instituion in which they
work.
> The crime is just an
> excuse to set these characters into
action.
>
> Like Chris, I'm usually with Kevin in
wanting
> structured fiction, that
> randomness is usually just a excuse for
sloppiness,
> but Bruen is one of
> the few that can make it work. His Brant series
is
> pretty near unique.
>
> Mark
>
>
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