>
> I will never understand this, because I should love
the stuff without
> question, but I always have trouble getting through
the Chandler work. I
> read it, and it's so nice, but I just get stuck, and
I've never known why,
> exactly.
>
I suppose it's what it always gets ascribed to, personal
tastes. I've been reading hardboiled, mystery, detective and
murder fiction for more than three decades now, and the only
authors anywhere in this range whose works I have read both
exhaustively and repeatedly are Chandler and Conan Doyle.
I've read all of Hammett, but none twice. I've read tons of
Macdonald, Parker, Stout, Timothy Harris, McBain, but none of
their works twice. Whereas I've read everything of Chandler's
at least three times, with full intention of doing it again
if I live long enough. And trust me, it's not because I can't
remember the plots! Chandler simply transports me to a world
of painful, poetic, melancholy idealism that I find nowhere
else, and I would rather be there than just about anywhere.
And if that's not excellent writing, I might just prefer it
to excellent writing.
Jim Beaver
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