In a message dated 1/7/2004 4:00:04 AM Eastern Standard Time,
owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca writes:
> <<As a matter of fact, was he considered such
before
> Macdonald was annointed? Wasn't it in
retrospect?>>
>
> I don't think so. In fact, I remember reading that
Faulkner
> considered and treated Chandler as an equal.
Macdonald was
> anointed by Leonard, but before that, critics saw
him as a
> less exciting Chandler with more psychological
depth, which
> is about right, I think.
Some date the official "annointing" of Ross Macdonald with
Eudora Welty's Sunday New York Times review of IIRC THE
UNDERGROUND MAN which, unheard of for a mystery, was given
the front of the book section. But certainly John Leonard was
driving that message as well. Westlake in speeches and
articles has made this out to be a near-conspiracy of the
high brow influencials, working together to designate
Macdonald and lift him onto the best seller list. The Welty
review was the crowning achievement of that effort.
On another subject, the Vincent Price version of I AM LEGEND
has some good moments, although it is far from being a great
film. On Matheson, I knew he was close to Gault and had
dedicated BORN OF MAN AND WOMAN to him. And Gault once told
me that he used to give rides to Matheson to and from an SF
group they were both members of--along with Henry Kuttner,
now that I recall the conversation. I recently learned that
Matheson actually lived in Gault's home his first few months
in California. I don't know if he soaked up some Hard-boiled
pointers while there but it couldn't have hurt.
Richard Moore
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