Jonathan Yardley is an eminent critic/book reviewer at the
Washington Post. His essay last Sunday giving an aerial view
of American lit for the past 130 years is fascinating and
thoughtful. One of his paragraphs worth perusing is as
follows:
"It also is worth noting that some of the most interesting
novels being written these days are not self-consciously
literary but are what is commonly known (and often dismissed)
as genre fiction. There is, for example, much first-rate
writing in suspense fiction. W.T. Tyler's spy novels--the
first, and best, being The Man Who Lost the War--compare
favorably with John le Carre's, and the reputation of Alan
Furst grows ever larger with each of his new novels in the
same genre. The power elite in Washington is knowingly and
mordantly portrayed in the highbrow thrillers of Charles
McCarry, while the city's underside gets gritty treatment in
the mysteries of George P. Pelecanos. There is no one writing
about Los Angeles today with the acuity of the singular
Raymond Chandler, though Walter Mosley gives it a good shot,
but Detroit has Elmore Leonard, Baltimore has Laura Lippman,
Miami has Carl Hiaasen (as previously it had the late Charles
Willeford), and of course Boston had the late George V.
Higgins. This is fiction devoid of pretension, yet it steps
out into the world--not often the prettiest parts of it--and
describes that world with intelligence, wit and tough
love."
Check out the balance at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A57255-2002Jul11?language=printer
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