Charles Williams:
I'm partial to The Sailcloth Shroud, possibly because I read
it before Dead Calm. Scorpion Reef is good, and The Wrong
Venus is a good comic novel. I can't understand why Williams
doesn't have more readers. He's fantastic.
I wonder if MacDonald thought so highly of Williams because
they share that same disillusionment? Williams' guys seem to
fall for a broken woman, get shat upon by her, beat up for
her, and generally screwed over. Travis McGee follows that
path too, but MacDonald seemed too headstrong personally to
create a hero who would end with nothing. Travis may bear the
emotional wounds, but he rarely leaves the book financially
ruined. (Or am I misremembering?) Williams, underneath it
all, is pretty black. He may present the facade of
romanticism, but it literally burns away underneath the light
of day. (Probably why I like him so much!)
-dc
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