<<2- hardboiled narrators - who writes the best
narrators? Plots aside,
character's aside, what are your favorite first-person
narrator's? So
much, sometimes I think everything, depends on the
narrator.
I really like what Jim Thompson and Chandler did with their
narrators,
but I'm sure you have many more ideas than I
do.>>
One that comes to mind is Ed, in Fredric Brown's _The
Fabulous
Clipjoint_. Brown conjures up perfectly the voice of a young
and
relatively inexperienced man who is trying to solve his
father's murder.
Another is John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee in the best
novels of the
series (I am rereading _Pale Gray for Guilt_, a good one).
The narrative
voice is so good that I can forgive the opinions on
everything that
McGee provides so liberally.
Another is Michael Collins's _Dan Fortune_, a character so
perfectly
worked out that he seems to really be the author.
Another is Thomas B. Dewey's "Mac", a persuasive narrator
whose
resilience and toughness are hidden under his compassion. He
is a solid
professional who can be trusted to do something but who
doesn't pretend
to know everything.
Lastly, Charles Willeford's Hoke Mosely is a character so
interesting
and unpredictable that the plot matters much less than simply
watching
him say and do things. He even loses his false teeth.
Regards,
mt
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