--- Rene Ribic <
rribic@optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> Likewise, I meant no disrespect to Parker. I
was
> completely unaware of
> any personal problems that he had & in fact the
only
> thing I knew about
> him was the one novel of his I'd read, "Summer
of
> Fear", of which I
> recall very little except that it didn't
really
> float my boat. Although
> I empathise with his situation (my mother died
of
> cancer & I spent her
> last night in the hospital room with her when
she
> died, so I think I'm
> fairly sensitive about this issue) I don't
really
> see this as being
> relevant to whether or not a book is a good
read.
I have to disagree with this. I think the author's state of
mind, background experience, etc., all figures into "whether
or not a book is a good read." I read Daly because of his
historical position and continue to read Parker (the other
one) because of what he once was to me; neither of these
issues has much to do with the book in front of me at any
given time. Likewise, I've read Crider and Pelecanos and
probably enjoyed them more because I "know" the authors.
We've discussed here how certain writers are only okay at the
craft but offer insights into politics or geography or a
certain sub-culture or whatever based on who the author is
*and what he or she was able to put into the work because of
who he or she is.* I haven't read the book in question, but
knowing what I know now about Parker, it will unquestionably
be a different book--I'll probably see a little more Parker
in it. That's certainly not irrelevant to whether or not the
book is a good read, is it?
I guess what I'm saying is that we don't read books in a
vacuum. We bring a context to our reading, and George (I
guess I can call him "the other George" now that he won't be
around to refute it) was adding to that context. I would be
curious to see, if you ever went back and re-read the book,
whether your reaction to it would change.
G.
===== George C. Upper III, Editor The Lightning Bell Poetry
Journal http://www.lightningbell.org/
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