On Jun 5, 2008, at 5:09 PM,
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com wrote: Juri wrote:
> I haven't read either of those books, though. I
still believe the
> reviewer
> of Dave's book was only thinking: "Didn't those
guys, um, Chandler and
> Hammett write in the thirties and the fourties, and
weren't there some
> movies, I mean film noir, okay, then I'll compare
this to those
> things or
> whatever."
Knee-jerk name-dropping is usually a sign of lazy criticism
-- you can spot it a mile away. My guess is that most of
these "critics" have never even read the books or authors
they cite. And some of the comparisons are truly
jaw-dropping. Naturally, the similarities are never actually
explained -- the mere dropping of a familiar name is supposed
to suffice. Or the reasoning is so twisted and lacking in any
commonly accepted knowledge that it calls into question the
entire review. Some might call it a mental illness; I just
call it stupidity.
Spenser compared to James Bond, Kinsey Millhone to Mike
Hammer, Amos Walker to Nero Wolfe? What were these guys
smoking?
A case might be made for any of these, I suppose, but they
sure weren't made in the places the comparisons were
made.
Cheer up, Dave. At least they left out Nancy Drew and the
Bobbsey Twins.
Kevin Burton Smith www.thrillingdetective.com
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