Thanks. I'll definitely pass your comments along to Dick
Prather, who'll be tickled to hear them. Talking to him about
THE PEDDLER, I didn't get the sense that it was very
controversial when first published (which surprises me a
little, since there are things in it that come across as a
bit raw and edgy even today). But interestingly we've gotten
feedback from some *current* readers who felt the book was
too harsh for them to take. I wonder, sometimes, whether
somewhere along the way public sensibilities have gotten
softer and more sensitive rather than coarser and more
permissive -- certainly you could show more (in the way of
nudity or violence) on the cover of a paperback in 1956 than
you could possibly get away with in 2006. It's a commonplace
to lament the degraded state of popular culture and to
complain about increasing vulgarity, sexualization and so
forth -- but based on at least some of the evidence I've
seen, in some ways people are more uptight today than they
were fifty years ago.
--Charles
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Dave Zeltserman"
<dz@...> wrote:
>
> I just finished the Hard Case reprint of The Peddler
by Richard
> Prather, and this was quite an achievement in
writing. I've read a
> half dozen or so Shell Scott books, enjoyed them for
what they
were,
> but this book caught me by surprise. You can think
of it as a mix
of
> Pacino's Scarface and a Jim Thompson inspired
nightmare. Tough kid
> Tony Romero works his way up the ladder in the
prostitution racket,
> and things go from bad to worse with a bit of
madness and paranoia
> thrown into the mix. The writing, at least for me,
is very
> interesting, a naturalness to it that reminded me of
Paul Cain.
Very
> tough, unflinching, and it's hard to imagine this
book being
released
> in 1952. Anyway, this is well-worth reading, and
Charles, if you
have
> any stories of the reaction this book caused when it
came out, I
loved
> to hear them. And pass onto Mr. Prather that this is
one hell of a
> great book.
>
> --Dave
>
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