RARA-AVIS: slanguage

From: MatCoward@aol.com
Date: 26 Jun 2003


In a message dated 24/06/03 12:17:42 AM GMT Daylight Time, owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca writes:

<< But Hammett didn't write RED HARVEST for you -- he wrote it for your
 grandfather, who probably got a real kick out of it. I think we
 should write for the times we live in, and let posterity hang. If it
 happens it happens, but most writers want to be read in their own
 lifetimes, not some hazy spot in the future. I know I do.>>

True, of course, but i think the thrust of the fred was that some hb writers overuse (and perhaps create) slang to such an extent that it isn't/wasn't smooth reading even on the day it was published - I can't know, of course, but I suspect this is the case with some passages in Harvest, where it seems very close to parody or perhaps self-parody. Or just a guy with a deadline.
- Mat C
<A HREF=" http://hometown.aol.co.uk/matcoward/myhomepage/newsletter.html"> http://hometown.aol.co.uk/matcoward/myhomepage/newsletter.html>

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