>I don't recall the source but I understand that
Ellroy has accused
>Mosley of ripping off his ideas to write A RED
DEATH.
I consider Mosely and Ellroy the two most important writers
in the genre today. Both have led me to see the world
differently, and helped me toward understanding some of its
apparent inequities. They accomplish this by taking a
different slant point-of-view toward their subjects.
Ellroy announces this different viewpoint by taking up the
language of a manic, desperate segment of society, and shows
how bureaucracies peopled by such individuals are often
reduced to pursuing their lowest, common objectives, usually
the pursuit of dominance. These are people, because of their
attachments to authority, see the prevalence of its
corruptions, and are themselves at various times able to act
above the law. The fluidity of power in Ellroy's novels is
fascinating.
Mosley shows a parallel universe that does not "benefit" from
the rule of law, at least in nothing like the way imagined in
white, middle-class communities. Because of their race,
Mosley's characters are most times beneath the law, or
beneath its notice. Mosley also uses language, putting
dialect into Rawlins' mouth to establish veracity when he
talks in dialogue to his fellows, but dropping it when he
narrates to his white readers. Mosley wants to show that
Rawlins' limitations aren't the result of a lack of
intelligence, but of a rigid hierarchy based upon race. Power
is fluid above and below the law, but that one, low constant
of race remains.
Sorry. Nobody asked for this shallow, pompous critique, but
having recently interviewed Mosley, the one thing I'd like to
have asked and didn't was how he sees power and authority
shift within his novelized black communities.
> (I'm not even going to go into why an
>author of Mosley's talent would need to steal from
Ellroy)
then Anthony Dauer wrote:
"It's also an obvious marketing ploy ..."
Sure. Most authors would claim that perhaps Mosley was
influenced by one of their books. But the controversy raised
by the word "steal" gets attention that help's to sell books.
Mosley's as well as Ellroy's. In the past, some on this list
(not necessarily Anthony) have disparaged Ellroy's skill at
getting this sort of attention. Personally, I like to see
good writers sell their books.
And Brian Thorton says:
"Gone Fishin'" was a vile, sweaty, smelly heap of fleshy
overindulgence
(and not the good kind). I couldn't even finish it.
Well, it's most of those adjectives, and is certainly closer
to Donald Goines "Swamp Man" than anything else in the
Rawlins oeuvre. Don't know whether it earns the designation
"overindulgence". I'm inclined to trust Mosley. I found "Gone
Fishin' " useful in understanding Rawlins and Mouse. The
other books frequently refer to a past in the rural south.
Then again, Mosley grew up in L.A., not Louisiana or Texas,
so I understand the book may lack the authenticity readers
find in the other books in the series. Rawlins' often refers
to his past in Houston as well. I'd like to read a book with
Rawlins on that turf too.
But I'm a fan, long past objective. Half-way through Bad Boy
Brawly Brown and I'm enjoying it thoroughly, though I suspect
Mosley's not quite as engaged in his subject matter as he was
in the earlier books. Dunno. Characters not quite so fully
developed, maybe. Maybe too soon to tell.
Kerry
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