<<Didn't Dickens do essentially the same thing? Viz.
The Pickwick
Papers.>>
But Dickens was a true hack, whereas Hammett hacked a living
in the
pulps but had some standards.
The padding effect can be easily spotted in the work of
Carroll John
Daly. One could cut three quarters of the dialogue and
description and
end up with a better story or novel. Daly was primitive, and
one of his
main tricks for jacking up the word count was to have a Race
Williams
monologue describing his own prowess and deeds. It's so
annoying it's
funny.
In the present era, many novels are grossly padded. Robert B.
Parker has
been doing this for years. In some cases, the plot would
barely suffice
for a short-short. We hear about Spenser's jogging and gym
habits, about
the dog, about his cooking, about his sex with the
insufferable Susan,
about politics, and so on.
And even James Lee Burke, an author I much respect, has
padded some of
his novels ("Dixie City Jam" is a fairly clear example) with
endless
descriptions of the Bayou, dead cypress, alligators and
alligator gars,
his own bait shop, and so on. Burke really can write, and I
forgive him
somewhat, but sometimes the padding jumps at the
reader.
A novel I read recently (out of desperation while travelling)
is Sue
Grafton's "L is for Lawless". This book is padded with events
totally
unrelated to the story, such as the marriage of her landlord.
And
Grafton, who came up with a great character in the charming
jailbird who
shows up in Santa Teresa, completely squanders him by
directing
attention to the always uninteresting Kinsey Millhone and her
petty
concerns. This could have been a great book with more
self-criticism and
extensive use of that essential implement, the
scissors.
I guess publishers no longer want the honest 200 page mystery
- a length
that does justice to most plots and characters.
Regards, and apologies for the length of this.
Mario Taboada
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