A different Chris wrote:
>>The Ellroys that I've read -- and also "White
Jazz"? -- have this tendency
>>to lapse into telegraph-ese, into stacatto little
sentence fragments
>>whenever the action gets particularly
fervid.
I enjoy the rat-a-tat syle, which Ellroy claims that this
began as a way to cut down the length of L.A. Confidential.
Still, I can see how it would annoy.
And Kevin said:
>So whatever Ellroy does (or doesn't do) for you, rest
assured it's not some
>spontaneous literary style bursting out of nowhere,
the result of
>unfettered genius, but a carefully worked out,
studied and deliberate
>style, a lengthy and extensive process that requires
a lot of reworking and
>laboring over the manuscript from both the author and
the editor. Doesn't
>exactly play into the literary enfant terrible
mythos, does it?
To use comments about Brown's Requiem when discussing
Ellroy's writing is a bit in bad faith. Ellroy was teaching
himself as he went along with those early books and his
recent books bear little resemblance to his early work. With
Ellroy, I'm never sure how much is true and how much is
legend, but from the description of that period in his life
in My Dark Places, it is not surprising that his first novel
would be sloppy and semi-coherent. Admittedly, I read My Dark
Places before reading Brown's Requiem, so I couldn't just
take the work at face value. Nevertheless, I have no doubt
that Penzler's comments are accurate and commended him for
spotting the value in some unheard of caddy's first
draft.
Though Ellroy has certainly built up many myths around
himself and his genius, as far as I know, he has never
claimed that his style anything but carefully worked out or
labored. From the two times I've heard him speak, it seems as
though he dwells quite a bit on the process, frequently
mentioning that the books are the product of much hard work,
writing, and re-writing. How many times have we heard about
the 800 page outline to American Tabloid or the fact that he
has two researchers and a fact checker working with
him?
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