Mario wrote: That would presuppose a very primitive reader.
Since the stuff came out long before my time, I cannot say
how readers in the fifties reacted. Some critics thought it
was primitive and adolescent, though
*********** Spillane's writing style is primitive and
adolescent, but Mike Hammer is a spectacular creation, and
there is a savage beauty in his stories. The critics who
deplore the raw violence and unsophisticated Hammer would do
well to check out Homer's ILIAD. Achilles is by turns
childishly petulant and ragingly violent. For that matter, a
quick look at the heroes in the BIBLE's Genesis wouldn't
reveal a lot of nobility there, either.
The critic's demand for a noble knight errant is an arbitrary
requirement that has more to do with current fashion than it
does with good writing.
miker
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