On the subject of new hardboiled, I just read *Give Us a
Kiss* by Daniel
Woodrell and liked it a lot. Like a *Swamp Sister* for the
90s. Backwoods
violence and plenty of humor. Recommended. It's also very
short, so if you
don't like it you won't have wasted much of your life in
finding that
fact out. Happy New Year. M-
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael D. Sharp Email: msharp@umich.edu
Department of English Lang. and Lit. Phone: (313)
761-8776
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Fax: (313) 763-3128
On Sun, 4 Jan 1998, William Denton wrote:
> I don't think I've sent out reminders lately, but I
know some people
> remembered that _The Drowning Pool_ is coming up on
Monday 5 January.
> (I haven't been able to find another copy yet - my
other is where I
> can't get at it, but don't mind me.)
>
> Just so we know what's next, I've picked out some of
the books that
> were suggested earlier, and here's a suggested
calendar:
>
> 5 Jan 1998 - _The Drowning Pool_ (Ross
Macdonald)
> 26 Jan 1998 - _The Killer Inside Me_ (Jim
Thompson)
> 16 Feb 1998 - _The Talented Mr. Ripley_ (Patricia
Highsmith)
> 9 Mar 1998 - _A Rage in Harlem_ (Chester
Himes)
>
> After this, if people suggest some newer hardboiled
stuff, I think
> those would be good to tackle. It occurred to me the
other day that
> perhaps newer hardboiled books don't have the subject
matter of the
> classics, while the books that do, and are supposedly
hardboiled (like
> Sue Grafton's series) aren't. Mario Taboada was
recently very
> eloquent in Usenet about James Crumley, and I'd like
to try him again.
>
> For the newer subscribers: the readings are fairly
informal, and meant
> to take you back to older books you may not have read
in a while, and
> to introduce you to writers you may not know.
Subscribers range from
> English professors and graduate students to people
with a new interest
> in the sub-genre, so discussion ranges all over, and
any comments are
> welcome. I will be automating a weekly reminder of
what's on the
> reading list.
>
> The Ross Macdonald bibliography
> (<URL:
http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/biblio/rossmacdonald.html>)
> shows that _The Drowing Pool_ is the second Lew
Archer book, and was
> published in 1950 under the name "John Ross
Macdonald." The "John"
> was dropped six years later, to stop confusion
between him and John
> D. MacDonald.
>
> Bill
> --
> William Denton | Toronto, Canada | http://www.vex.net/~buff/
| Caveat lector.
> "It is better to incur a mild rebuke than to perform
an onerous task."
> -- "Uncle" Oswald Hendryks Cornelius
>
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