miker wrote about Pelecanos:
"The thing I wonder about in his books is the era-specific
references and the frequency of them. To an extent, it
parallels the social history novels I've read by O'Hara,
Heath, and Gores, with one critical shortcoming. Those other
books open up an era you didn't live in and make it come
alive. Unless you are already familiar with what Pelecanos is
talking about, the music he mentions tells you nothing. It's
like an insider joke."
Well, he did the same thing in his historic novels as in his
contemporary ones. For instance, he did his research for Big
Blowdown so he could use just as many '40s brand and music
names as his more current books. Now I don't know my '40s
music (especially not the white pop charts) as well as that
of the rock era, so some of the names did go over my head,
but it didn't bother me, just told me that music was
important in the lives of the characters, even if I didn't
always know the specific cultural significance of a
particular song. That said, the black music (most of which I
did recognize) playing in the diner was very important, as it
signaled the acceptance of blacks in a diner along a street
where integration was a big issue.
There seems to be a love it or hate it reaction to
Pelecanos's name dropping (well, there are probably also
those who just skip over those parts). It works for me, in a
big way. Now I know my pop music, so I recognize the vast
majority of the names. And liking a particular song or artist
does tell me a lot about a character.
That said, I can see the insider joke complaint (even when it
makes me feel like an insider for catching the references).
However, as much as Pelecanos does love to namecheck obscure
(and usually deserving) artists, he usually puts at least one
big name in each list (even if it may be a negative
reference), so there will be at least one hook for a
non-fanatic.
Still, wouldn't it be great if his books came with
soundtracks? The CDs could have instructions (play these
songs while reading chapter 3) or they could be broken down
by character, with a few favorite songs for each.
Unfortunately, I'm sure the clearances and licensing would be
cost prohibitive, especially at the volume of references
Pelecanos uses.
Still, it's a cool idea I wish more would try. I'm currently
reading Nick Hornby's Songbook, a collection of short essays
about some favorite songs of his; it comes with a CD
collecting some of the more obscure tracks he discusses. The
Brit edition of Simon Reynolds's Generation Ecstasy (well, it
was titled Energy Flash over there) came with a CD of
examples. Still, those are books about music (and the songs
copyright holders probably figured readers would want to
check out more recordings by the artists on the CDs they
liked), not books that include music.
That CD that came out with a Vachss book a few years ago, was
it made up of songs that were in the book or songs inspired
by the book?
Syndicated intended to put out books shrinkwrapped with
tie-in hip hop CDs of songs mentioned in the text, but the
plug was pulled after just one or two books.
Ace Atkins's blues tracker books would also seem custom made
for this and many of those songs are probably in the public
domain.
"It damages shelf life. Maybe he's writing for the present
and doesn't care how it will read in 30 years."
Can anyone write for anything but the present? Do you really
think any of the pulp writers, for instance, thought about
whether or not people would be reading them in later
generations?
It seems to me that this issue of writing to a "human
experience that transcends a particular time" is a corollary
of the "transcends genre restraints" argument. How
debilitating it would be to worry about every reference and
whether or not it will be understood in 30 years. I can't
think of a particular title, but I've read authors who were
clearly trying to "write for the ages." And how stilted and
boring they were
(probably why I can't remember a title). A story is told
through the details. And in a consumer driven time such as
ours, details include a lot of brand names, including the
brand names of music.
Mark
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