rikke & hanne kesten (rbkhbk@bcn.net)
Fri, 17 Sep 1999 11:08:44 +0000
Anders Engwall wrote:
>
> Juri Nummelin:
>
> > I find Spillane rather loathsome author
who
> > has more racist and fascist attitudes than
almost any other writer.
>
> Indeed. When i first read "I, the Jury" I was
appalled. Blatant
> racism, sexism, homophobia and even advocacy of a
police state --
> I could hardly believe anyone could write such
things. And as has
> been pointed out already, Spillane obviously has/had
an enormous
> sexual hangup.
If you read "Spillane" as "the early Fifties" Juri has
presented a perfect definition of life in that era.
Red-phobia, McCarthy, post-WW2 with veterans re-defining
society while schooling on the GI Bill and moving to the
suburbs on GI housing mortgages, the country emerging from
Puritanism into the pre-Beat era, Jane Russell's bosom on
billboards from "The Outlaw" defining the forefront of a new
sexuality, kids diving under desks in school drills, and
Nuclear terror permeating societies dreams.
j> ......I thought "I, the Jury" was
clumsily,
> almost amateurishly, written. Add to that Spillane's
absurd
> attitude to almost everything, and I have to rate it
as one of
> the worst novels I've ever read, regardless of
genre. In sense
> it is fascinating for this very reason; it is
interesting to know
> just how bad literature can be. I must admit,
however, that the
> last few lines are very cool.
I read "I, The Jury" when I was thirteen or fourteen -- a
sixteen year old friend passed it along to me -- and believe
me, this book broke new ground. Things were said in dialogue
and description that had never been said in popular fiction
before, words that left an incredible impression on those of
us who could get our hands on that book. Spillane was our
hero. He opened doors to the unimaginable. And Velda!! My
goodness, what an object of desire Spillane created for
us.
When I re-read the book years later I was caught between
recall of my first impression and my more educated
sensibility. Yet somehow, the pleasure of that first read
overcame the shortcomings of material that was now seriously
dated.
But Spillane certainly did break new ground in the genre.
Read with hat in mind, it suffers age more gently.
--steve
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