RARA-AVIS: Re:A Whiff of Sulphur...

From: jacquesdebierue ( jacquesdebierue@yahoo.com)
Date: 04 Dec 2007


--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Robert Elkin <rictusaporia@...> wrote:
>
> Martk Harris wrote:
> "if Chandler is that great himself (no argument from me there), then
certainly he should be able to withstand any kind of insult.

I add: hardboiled fans should not get into a cult of personality around Chandler, Hammett or anybody. Idolatry doesn't seem the right attitude. It is perfectly possible to like a genre and yet hate some of its greatest classics.

When Joyce Carol Oates set out to deflate Chandler in the NYRB, I applauded the gesture, though she did it poorly (she came across as humorless, earnest, not very well informed, etc.).

Best,

mrt



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