<<When we say MacDonald isn't appreciated, I think the
original point was that he isn't mentioned with the Big
Three, who, IMHO, aren't really that big anyway and there are
others, like John D., who deserve more
attention.>>
The problem with John D. is that he wrote so much --a lot of
it very good indeed-- and yet he isn't identified with
particular masterpieces (and movies), such as Hammett's
_Falcon_ and Chandler's _The Big Sleep_. The third of the Big
Three is Willeford, right?
I do agree that his old paperbacks deserve new readers.
Perhaps his constant irony doesn't sit well in an age
dominated by the discourse of the help and self-help
industries. Slapstick still sells, but irony is tough.
I wonder if John D.'s wicked irony was understood as such in
the fifties, and I wonder the same about Prather. It could be
that the superior technique of these writers, and their
ability to create suspense and action, didn't blind the
reader to their subtler virtues.
Regards,
MrT
=====
"The skill of man is unequal to the formation of a new man
from old materials, but the battered tenement may, with care,
be long sustained by props" -- From Becklard's
Physiology.
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