Al asked: And I'm interested, Mike: West is one of the four I
haven't read that I'd most like to. What did you think of
MISS LONELYHEARTS?
********* MISS LONELYHEARTS was worth reading. I can't say I
was really rocked by it, but, if anything, that's indicative
of my shortcomings and not West's. I'm a crusty old
conservative and it's really hard to get me excited about a
"look-how-terrible-society-is-and-how-it-twists-people"
theme. I would have been more impressed by the book in my
teens. And that is not an accusation that the book is
childish, but that I have grown insensitive to social issues
over the years.
Alright, alright. That "raises" (Thanks, Richard. Your email
was duly noted. ;-) the question, "Well, you liked Goodis.
Doesn't it have the same theme?" I'm going to say "no" to
that. Although the plots might both involve big society
stepping on the little people, the theme is where the
spotlight is pointed. To me, West's is aimed at society, and
Goodis's is aimed at the person. That's all the difference in
the world. One is whining about nasty mean old society and
the other is a moving portrayal of how the little guy acts in
the path of the steamroller.
And now something else occurs to me. Maybe it's not a
"spotlight" issue at all. It might be that the reason I
wasn't overly impressed with MISS LONELYHEARTS is because I'm
not in touch with my feminine side. Hahaha! What I mean by
this is that Miss Lonelyhearts's reaction to his situation is
more along the lines of the masochistic/fem- inine response
that Woolrich employs in I MARRIED A DEAD MAN, as opposed to
the sadistic/masculine response that's more often associated
with tough guy hardboiled (By the way, I pulled those two
labels from a post on another group about Woolrich. Somebody
noted that the FILM NOIR READER had an essay on Woolrich, and
the author noted these two responses to the noir world.), and
I much prefer the stoic tough guy approach.
Well, sorry for the stream of consciousness post. As you can
see, I don't have a firm handle on any of this and I'm
working it out as I go.
Read it, Al! It's only 59 pages. As far as action, it's on
par with O'Hara's APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA.
miker
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