--- Patrick King <
abrasax93@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Well, William, if THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE
COLD
> is
> not a genre book, what is it?
Actually, I agree with you for the most part. I guess I'm one
of those people who believe some books actually do transcend
the genre. Apparently, so did Chandler if that quote of his
that was posted wasn't taken out of context. (I doubt that it
was, it's just that I haven't read the piece it was taken
from.) I don't see Graham Greene as a genre writer although
he did write using story lines common to any number of
genres. (Is Journey Without Maps travel genre?) It was the
problem that I had with Ian Rankin. It stank of genre. The
very sound of the sentences was so formulaic, so predictable
in structure and even length. It's a problem that I have with
a lot of writers. Perhaps I'm looking for different
things.
(That is not meant to sound in any way like the babblings of
a elitist -- now that is a hysterical thought -- but rather I
have no interest in readings Jim Thompson's Ironsides novel
or Christa Faust's novels based on Freddie Kruger or that
other one that she did. I've read almost everything else by
Thompson and am looking forward to Faust but my interest is
not in having read an entire catalog if the particulars don't
interest me.) So, if you want to say that Carre is a genre
writer, that's just jake with me. Some of his books are
better than others and one of them is really, really
good.
Whatever . . .
William
Essays and Ramblings
<http://www.williamahearn.com>
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