Kevin wrote:
> Just to make it clear, I have read Ellroy. In fact,
I've read most of
> his stuff, although I haven't read his latest (JFK
conspiracy
> theories -- zzzzzzzzzz....). I think he's pompous
and pretentious and
> too often takes a little boy's delight in offending
people and acting
> out. I also think, at his best, he's one hell of a
writer.
> Unfortunately, so does he.
>
> But don't let that stop you. Anyone interested in
hard-boiled fiction
> should at least give him a try.
>
> As for mocking him, while, gee, any ego puffed up
that big deserves a
> little prick now and then. And here at Rara-Avis
we're just the
> pricks to do it.
* * * * * * *
As the person responsible for starting the latest round of
Ellroy "bashing", I suppose it's time I weighed in on the
topic of his importance to the genre et al. As a bit of
background, I was first exposed to his work several years
ago
(late 80s, early 90s) when I read "The Black Dahlia". I was
blown away. I thought it one of the finiest mystery novels I
had ever read.
I was in college at the time and unable to indulge myself too
much in reading for the sake of pleasure, so I lost track of
Ellroy. Then about the time I finished grad school, Curtis
Martin's film version "L.A. Confidential" came out, and I
again discovered Ellroy.
I immediately set about catching up with him. I read "L.A.
Confidential", and was, to be honest, disapointed, thinking
that this was one of the few times where the film was
actually better than the book on which it was based (Tom
Clancy's "Patriot Games" being another telling example of
this). I then took a chance on "My Dark Places", which was
brilliant (and disturbing). Next I went back and re-read "The
Black Dahlia", which stood up well to this renewed scrutiny.
Following that I gave "The Big Nowhere" a shot, and couldn't
finish it. The same went for "Brown's Requiem" (although I
really enjoyed his discussions of classical music contained
therein). I got part way in to "White Jazz" before the whole
incest subplot became too much for me to bother with, and got
in the way of my enjoyment of what might have been good
prose.
I'm not saying that Ellroy isn't a good writer. I'm saying
his work is uneven. As he has become more succesful, along
with the "come roll around for a while in my just-used
bathwater" I have noted a developing sense of
self-consciousness in his work. As this self-consciously
pretentious tone has eveolved, the quality of his work has
(at least for me) eroded considerably.
There is nothing wrong with having a big ego in any purview,
as long as you can deliver (see Hemingway, Ernest: "The Snows
of Kilimanjaro"). However, Ellroy commits the "sin" so many
writers in the twilight of their careers, at the nadir of
their powers do: his ego gets in the way of his telling the
story (see Hemingway, Ernest: "Across the River and Into the
Trees"), and when a writer forgets that the story IS the main
thing, fate/the world/the reading public has a way of evening
up the tally book.
This is not to say that Ellroy is at the tail end of his
career. After all, Hemingway still had
"The Old Man and the Sea" left in him during all those years
while he was either "serving" in Europe, or writing the
terrible later novels. I'm just saying that Ellroy's in
danger of being mistaken for someone parodying his powerful
middle works.
There's my shot across the bow of those who trumpet Ellroy as
an "important writer" in noir fiction. I would agree with
that assessment, by the way, but only if I were allowed to
add a "self-" in front of that phrase. Let the return volleys
begin!;)
Brian
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