Richard Moore <
moorich2@aol.com> wrote:
<< Off the top of my head, I'd say James Crumley is one
very influential writer who pushed the PI novel into new
directions and whose best work continues to be reprinted and
win new fans and inspire other writers.
>>
I agree that Crumley is excellent and influential. I
guess I see Sallis is following the more understated form or
style of the tradition, which MacDonald represents to some
degree. There's violence, yes, but its presentation is ...
something I can't quite describe (need more caffiene) -- not
dwelled upon, I guess.
S P O I L E R
.
.
.
.
.
. Take the scene at the end of THE CHILL (I think that's the
one), in which the mother kills herself with the knitting
needles. If you think about it, that's pretty gruesome. But
MacDonald handles it in such a way that I actually had to
read the passage more than once to make sure what happened.
In MacDonald, violence was usually quick (or off-stage), and
he focused his details on events and revelations that
occurred after the violent event, the results of the
violence. I see something similar in Sallis' work.
Crumley is no shrinking violet in the influence
department. His work shows violence, it's still literary, but
I see his influence more on the outright crime novel -- on
guys like Ellroy and Bruen. Again, this is my off-the-cuff,
gut-feeling-this-morning postulation, not a declaration. I
may well be far off base. And I enjoy reading what the rest
of you think about these things. Helps me to clarify my own
thoughts.
- Duane
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 30 Nov 2004 EST