<<It happened to the best of them. Catherine and
Frederick's cute little love talk in Hemingway's A FAREWELL
TO ARMS is enough to gag even a Danielle Steele reader.
Robert Jordan and his "rabbit" in FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
weren't much better.>>
Indeed, Hemingway's love scenes are awkward, even more
awkward than D.H. Lawrence's. On the other hand, much
inferior writer like James T. Farrell (but a great short
story writer and master of slang) could write credible love
scenes. So could Erskine Caldwell, another tough writer of
the Depression whose short stories I like to dip into
occasionally. They are collected and published by the
University of Georgia Press. It's a thick volume with a high
proportion of memorable tales.
One of Walter Mosley's many strengths is that he can describe
the heat as well as the affection between two people without
embarrassing himself or sending the reader to the next
chapter. I especially recall several exemplary scenes in the
Socrates Fortlow books, and one scene with Easy Rawlins in _A
Little Yellow Dog_. It took place on a school table.
Lastly (the dressing on the salad), Charles Williams handled
love much better than John D. This Goldmedathon should make
Williams several new readers. He is one of the most
underrated of the goldmedalists.
Best,
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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