Mario Taboada (matrxtech@yahoo.com)
Thu, 4 Nov 1999 10:01:04 -0800 (PST)
<< > THE 1990s detective can't shut up about
> anything. It's hard to go even a few
pages
> without being assaulted by a confession
of
> inner feelings.>>
Good article, and the above assertion is very true. Sometimes
I think that John D. MacDonald's later style
(with lots of talk about "issues", injecting personal
opinion, and so on) was the origin of this modern epidemic of
idle chat. John D. had lots of class and was a born
storyteller, so he could get away with it, but when people
with less talent take this as a modus operandi (Grafton,
Paretski, and lots of others do this), it bores me silly.
There are exceptions, notably Bill Pronzini, John D.'s heir
in style and spirit, and a writer with comparable talent, but
generally the touchy-feely style has hurt the P.I.
novel.
The other day I read Joe Gores's _Contract Null & Void_,
a superb DKA novel with no padding at all. I read it
straight, and at times I felt I had a Gold Medal in my hands.
Great, exemplary stuff. There is one scene near the end where
Kearny shoots one of the bad guys in a cold and professional
manner that pays homage to Hammett and to the best of
hardboiled.
Regards, and apologies for the rant
===== Mario Taboada
"It is our belief that no writer can improve his work until
he discards the dulcet notion that the reader is
feeble-minded, for writing is an act of faith, not a trick of
grammar."
E.B. White
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