I was a little bummed when I read miker's slam of Barry
Hannah's article "Dark Harvest" in the latest issue of Oxford
American because I had just shelled out the money to buy the
issue. Oxford American is a fine magazine and I prize their
issues focused on southern music, food, and various things
literary.
It was heartening to read a few posts later that miker was
prompted by the article to inquire about Charles Bukowski. It
seems the piece did have some value for him.
The Hannah piece is a bit pretentious but the old boy has
survived his decades as an alcholic and a career as a writer
and he can strut a bit for all I care. I find it of interest
that he is teaching a class in noir at Ole Miss and I noted
several authors mentioned in the article that I hope to
explore such as Ace Atkins. He indicates he is working on a
noir piece of fiction himself in which he invokes his friend
the writer Richard Hugo. I think it might be worth
reading.
A final thought on the article: his recommendation of Charles
Willeford did prompt a separate, stand-alone boost from the
magazine of Willeford's fiction. That's really the main value
of any such articles is the showcasing of writers who deserve
another look.
As for Burkowski, miker, I can recommend NOTES OF A DIRTY OLD
MAN
(1969) from his prose. I have read some of his fiction but
don't have the books in front of me and the memories are a
bit vague. Not a good sign. So I will stick to NOTES. For one
who is not a huge poetry reader, I am inordinately fond of
Burkowski's poetry. From the same year (1969), I recommend
THE DAYS RUN LIKE WILD HORSES OVER THE HILLS as a sample of
his poetry.
As for Burkowski in the cinema, the direct example is
"Barfly." However, a movie that seems to me to draw from
Burkowski is "Night at the Golden Eagle" (2002). I blundered
on "Golden Eagle" late one night and stayed because I
recognized singer Sam Moore (Sam & Dave) in the cast. At
first I was repelled by the parade of loathsome characters
sinking ever deeper into skid row degradation. Eventually I
realized the film had to be a comedy as the two aging hoods
(at least one of whom was played by a real life mobster)kept
trying to sneak out the body of the dead hooker from their
hotel room. It was a bit like Hitchcock's "The Trouble With
Harry." As with Harry the hooker's body becomes a 'thing' of
inconvenience, something to be disposed of. Unlike
Hitchcocks's Harry the hooker's body is nude throughout and
that makes the impersonal objectification all the more
shocking. As it wallowed around the gutter, both shocking and
funny, "Night at the Golden Eagle" reminded me of
Burkowski.
Richard Moore
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Michael Robison
<miker_zspider@...> wrote:
>
> I spent a few minutes reading Barry Hannah's
article
> on noir in the southern literary magazine,
Oxford
> something or other. I almost didn't finish it.
The
> first four paragraphs were worthless. After that
he
> decided to actually get down to the subject.
He
> mentioned some great noir fiction classics, but
he
> didn't shed any new light on the subject, or
even
> frame it with any particular clarity. He spends
a
> couple useless paragraphs describing several of
what
> he considers unbelievable portrayals of murder
in
> Hammett's Red Harvest. I do give him credit
for
> mentioning Faulkner's Sanctuary.
>
> I read a short and unmemorable novel by Hannah
here
> recently. This article was of the same
caliber.
>
> miker
>
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 04 Jan 2007 EST