>Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 00:18:17 -0500
(EST)
>From: William Denton <
buff@pobox.com>
>Subject: RARA-AVIS: Connelly and
chronology
>[...] Connelly also said that after the book tour he
was
>going to take some time (he already has his next book
written) and reread
>all of Ross Macdonald's books in order. That's a big
job.
>[...]
>His plan about rereading Macdonald twigged me to
something I'd forgotten:
>a plan to try rereading all of Hammett's work in
chronological order.
>With NIGHTMARE TOWN and all the other books and
collections I don't think
>I'm missing too much of his fiction, and I thought
going through it all
>but this time in the order it was written could be
fun. Has anyone ever
>tried this? Now that so many writers work in series,
this is a pretty
>standard way to go, but it's different when tackling
a writer who wrote a
>lot before paperbacks took over.
Actually, as one who "came late" to mystery-dom, and after
having devoured Hammett & Chandler in whatever order I
could locate them, _that_ is precisely the manner in which
(after a couple of years of 'obtaining' them) I read Ross
Macdonald's canon. It is an interesting way to immerse one's
self in an author's world, whether that world is presented as
a 'series', or not.
It is my preferred way to approach someone who has been
favorably compared to others I've read, but some times Takes
A While. ...sometimes it takes a while to complete the 'run'
(i.e., finding a couple of the earlier
"Nameless" novels, at prices I can afford), and sometimes it
takes a while to get to them: I occasionally look at my
completed collection of 87th Precinct books -- but 50+ books
are rather intimidating!
Far and away the most interesting result of these
proclivities was when I read Block's Matthew Scudder series
straight thru, in a two month period, a couple of years ago.
Now I'm not in any way a critic -- I'm one who unabashedly
admits to reading genre (skiffy; mystery) fiction primarily
for sheer escapism (although I'm sure that some could Read
Something Into the fact that my immersion in hard-boiled
mysteries became pronounced after a messy divorce!) -- but in
close to 50 years of Reading, I've never encountered a more
sustained ... and _logical_ example of character-development
over a twenty-year span in Real Time, in any series. I was
Impressed.
Of course, I do think Block blew it when he had Scudder
actually move in with that woman, neat as she may be.
This has absolutely nothing -- I repeat: nothing! -- to do
with the fact that MyLife tanked after making a similar
"move"....
[In the meantime, I wait ... with semi-patience ... for the
VA to get around to 'harvesting' my cataracts. So I can get
back to reading something other than computer
screens...]
---
Bill Bowers | <Bill@Outworlds.net>
"The stars descended upon me like an elevator in a shaft."
---Ross Macdonald, Trouble Follows Me, 1946
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