I think it interesting to note how Leonard said he didn't
"learn" anything from Chandler/Hammmett. It's semantics to
me.
Seminal works in any genre are those which influence future
writers, period. This subject has been brought up on this
list before, but I think it is still relevant (particularly
to this discussion).
Although writers (and critics) are quick to note those
worthies who came before and influenced them in a positive
manner, it is a more difficult proposition to asssess which
authors one has read that might influence one in a negative
manner.
For instance, my disdain for the majority of the writings of
James Ellroy is well-documented on this list, and speaking as
an heretofore unpublished author of at least one full-length
mystery novel, I can honestly say that the crawl-
in-your-own-filth-both-real-and-metaphorical style of
Ellroy's writing has in fact had a negative influence on my
own work (such as it is). In other words, I have been pushed
away from writing things that might be hailed as
"Ellroyesque", etc.
I think that seminal books do that. They influence either
positively or negatively, based upon any possible combination
of power and originality. Thus, although Leonard (a man I
consider to be a brilliant writer) may not have 'learned'
anything from Chandler, I don't consider it much of a stretch
to say that there can be little question that he has been
influenced by reading his work, even if he rejects it as
"instructive."
Just my two cents,
Brian
>
>
>
> Al wrote:
>
> <Well, without inviting Hunter and Leonard to
take lie detector
> tests,
> <there's no way of knowing for sure. But I'm
frankly astonished
> you think so.
> <I can easily see how Chandler's style of writing
would drive
> Leonard to
> <distraction. After all, their writing is
contrary in almost
> every possible
> <way.
>
> Wasn't Leonard's claim that he had learned nothing
from either
> Chandler or Hammett? I don't see how anybody writing
in the crime
> field today can say that and mean it. I'm thinking
primarily of
> Hammett here. The Black Mask boys, with Hammett as
the most
> visible, put a distinctive stamp on crime fiction
that influenced
> everything in the genre that came after. I wonder if
there was a
> follow up question: if Hammett wasn't an influence,
then who?
> Perhaps like Robert Parker, Leonard is a Melville
man.
>
> Dick Lochte
>
>
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