RARA-AVIS: Parker and Hammett


Gerald So (gso@optonline.net)
Sun, 05 Sep 1999 06:48:27 -0400


Hello, all.

     Below is the excerpt I found most interesting:

RBP: I have found that most writers seem to have a lot less conscious intention than reviewers presume. Hammett probably came naturally to the spare language and the hard-boiled attitude. It was a way to tell stories that worked for him. But it also created problems that he was often unable to overcome. There is a flatness to Hammett's laconic style that seems to flatten the characters...

Me: Parker himself comes naturally to spare language and a more or less hardboiled attitude. In recent years these trademarks have created the same problems for him as they did for Hammett. More often in today's Spenser books, Parker's style comes off flat and the characters likewise suffer.

                                                             Gerald

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