OK, Block months are ending, and I'm finally gonna chip in
with a theory. I recently reread Sins of the Fathers and Stab
in the Dark
(Scudders 1 and 4), and I reread my favorite, 8 Million Ways
to Die, this past summer (Scudder 5). They were all even
better this time, and I thought they were terrific books the
first time around. Like many on the list, I prefer the
pre-A.A. Scudder by far. I want to propose a theory on the
sorta sleaze origins of Scudder. Please feel free to help or
correct me …quot; there's a couple things, like the hardcover
reprints of the early Scudders and the Ernie Bulow interview
book, that I can't lay my hands on, and I'm sure there's more
information out there, and there's lots more to say anyway.
Let me start with some career context.
Block and Westlake are often grouped together: two prolific
Grand Master contemporaries who came up together and have
written multiple popular award-winning high-quality series.
(They're both great, and I make no claim as to which is
better, more important, or whatever.) But while they started
from and are now in the same general place in the pantheon,
their careers had very different phases early on. Both start
out knocking out sleaze for Midwood, Monarch,
Nightstand/Corinth, etc. via Scott Meredith, but:
Westlake publishes a hardcover a year starting in 1960, hits
big with Parker/Stark in paperbacks, which lead to the film
Point Blank starring Lee Marvin in 1967, the same year he
wins a best novel Edgar for God Save the Mark. In 1970, the
Hot Rock starts the Dortmunder series, which becomes a film
starring Robert Redford in 1972. That's a hell of a
successful writing career right there, 35 years ago.
Meanwhile, even by the early 1970s and about 15 years of
professional writing, Block doesn't have nearly the fortune
and fame. His first hardcover, Deadly Honeymoon, comes in
1967, and there aren't many others before 1977. He has a
bunch of Gold Medals, including the seven-book Tanner series.
Mostly what he has are pseudonymous works: Paul Kavanaugh and
Chip Harrison and an undeterminable but probably pretty
voluminous amount of sleaze. Among other names, he used
Andrew Shaw, Sheldon Lord, Jill Emerson, "Dr." Benjamin
Morse, and the one that I think matters for the early
Scudders, John Warren Wells. Basically, Block's name is not a
draw, and he's still writing sex-based books -- until the
Scudders.
[Tangent: In checking a name above, I rediscovered the great
Earl Kemp fanzine, and anyone who wants to know more about
the early Block should check out:
efanzines.com/EK/eI14/index.htm.]
Back to Block in the early 70s: there was no "Block" from
1971-75, just the pseudonyms. (His personal life is probably
relevant here, but I'm not going there.) Block reappears with
Scudder, and the first Scudders are paperback originals (a
three book series, really) with at least one cover promoting
"New York's Answer to Lew Archer." The first, The Sins of the
Fathers, is a terrific book. Scudder is a fully formed
character, and all sorts of common elements appear (the
drinking, of course, but also newspaper atrocities,
Scudder-administered beat-downs, etc.) in the early books. I
won't give spoilers (the title does the job well enough).
There are interesting themes of professionalism and payment
for the private eye, policemen, and prostitute ("When someone
hands you money, you take it"). There are three case studies
in fatherhood (the girl's father, the boy's father, and
Scudder himself). There's some thinking about religion and
ritual (the tithing), and even a healthy chunk of scripture.
The ethics of Scudder's resolution of this case and a
previous flashback case are also rich and complex: doing the
"wrong things for the right reason, or the right things for
the wrong reason."
It's a damn good book.
A rather different reading experience is found in John Warren
Wells's Tricks of the Trade, with the above-the-title tag,
"The Joy of Hooking." The book consists of interviews (made
up?) with nine New York City prostitutes. How they got
started, how they operate, comments on technique and style,
various philosophical thoughts. It was published in 1970
(pre-Joy of Sex, interestingly) by Signet / New American
Library, a decided step-up from Nightstand and Midnight
Reader. There's reasonable evidence that people read John
Warren Wells: my copy is a 13th printing …quot; for all I
know, this is Block's bestselling book ever!
[Tangent to make the case for Block's authorship: Johnny
Wells is the main character in 1961's Lover by Andrew Shaw,
and in Lynn Munroe's invaluable catalog, he cites John Warren
Wells and Jill Emerson dedicating books to each other. (But
unlike his recent trend, I kind of doubt Block will approve
the republishing of the John Warren Wells titles.)]
I don't think that Tricks of the Trade warrants a close
reading New Criticism style, but trust me when I say that
story of Bernice matches a few of the elements found in the
girl's story in Sins of the Fathers, and Gretchen owns real
estate in Queens, like Elaine. So here's my reverse
engineering of Sins of the Fathers: Take a John Warren Wells
scenario of prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, (and more,
but no spoilers), add murder, and have Scudder work out the
Freudian psychological circumstances surrounding the sexual
elements.
This time Scudder, not Wells, conducts the interviews. In
particular, see chapter 10 with Marcia the roommate for talk
of ego damage and hang-ups, even though Scudder claims, "I'm
not a psychologist, a psychiatrist, any of those things. I'm
just a man who used to be a cop."
This time Scudder, not Wells, produces the report (to both
Hanniford's father and the reader) and puts the pieces of
this "kind of prostitute" together: the life story, the
motivation, how they got started, how they operate, and a
philosophical/psychological explanation. (In the Scudder
version, all but the technique.)
As for the later books, just on the surface, prostitutes and
pimps play the key roles in 8 Million Ways to Die, and of
course, there's Elaine throughout the series. There's more to
say, but I've gone on way long, and this has taken me a while
to put together.
What I see as the sleaze connections to Scudder in no way
diminishes the early books, but provides a link between
Block's named and pseudonymous writings professionally and
thematically. After Scudder, Block writes as Block
exclusively, I think, and he becomes a hardcover-publishing,
book-touring Grand Master with many devoted fans
…quot; a path not clear in the early 70s.
Best to all, and where did Miker go?,
Bob V in NJ
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