Bill:
<<I don't remember them being so loaded with similes
and metaphors as MOTOR CITY BLUE: "The city was as hot as a
frying pan left on the burner overnight. My throat was as dry
as a vermouth-less martini bar in the Sahara with four
dehumidifers running. I quenched my thirst with some beer
that was as cold as the look my grade seven teacher would
give me when I misspelled 'functionary.'">>
Metaphor and simile have become an epidemic, and not just in
the P.I. subgenre. I suspect that authors are thinking movie
script lines when they write such stuff. Chandler abused the
simile, but he put it to great use as a comic device. Since
then, the trick has become threadbare*
(Howard Browne alone wore out a lot of the trim*, if trim is
what rugs have around them)*. Swift's warning against
metaphor still holds, I think. The guy preached by example,
too: he could write long stretches without metaphorizing at
all. So could Hammett.
and we proceed to another chestnut*:
<<Walker gets hit on the head a couple of times. The
first time he tells us how it's not like on TV,
and it hurts and you throw up and you can't just get up,
shake your head, and walk away. Later he's beaten by a big
guy with brass knuckles, passes out, is woken by a prostitute
and is in bed with her ten minutes later.>>
For exageration, how about Stick, in _Stick_, who first gets
in the sack with the boss's wife, then services a scared
bimbo who's hiding in the boss's yacht out on the dock, and
THEN tries to go at it with the real girl, the girl who's
worth it. Well, he couldn't, the physiology wouldn't allow
it, but Leonard's limp attempt at slapstick sticks out like a
tarantula, oops!!
Oh, I forgot to say that THE GIRL UNDERSTOOD, even though she
didn't know Stick from Adam. Sorry Elmore, your female
characters suck.
Let's face it, a lot of our favorite books would never pass a
minimal reality test. And I didn't even get into James Lee
Burke -- or David Goodis.
*See the kind of shitsville you get into when you start
comparing?
Best, and apologies for a long and not too polished post. No
diamond, just rough.
MrT
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