Your reaction to Macdonald is similar to mine. His best work
sweeps me along while I'm reading it and his stock soars on
the Moore appreciation exchange. But I find myself in
discussions like this one kicking dents in his hubcaps. For
example I stirred the pot saying I found Lew Archer
two-dimensional--and I do. That has not kept me from enjoying
and appreciating many an Archer story. And after all, I love
Hammett's Continental Op stories and that chubby PI didn't
even get a name dropped on him, much less a girlfriend, a
black sidekick and a favorite brand of whisky.
Richard Moore
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Jacques Debierue"
<matrxtech@y...> wrote:
>
> I think Ross Macdonald's influence on his and
subsequent
> generations of PI writers is enormous. We have
discussed his
> stature ad nauseam here, with entertaining but
divergent
> conclusions.
>
> My experience is: when I'm not reading him, I tend
to think he's
> overrated, but when I'm in the middle of one of his
novels, I
think
> he's underrated. Let's say that he's the most
overunderrated or
> underoverrated PI writer.
>
> By the way, I don't find Archer so
two-dimensional... Does having
> a Susan, a Hawk and a dog make Spenser a fuller
character
> than Archer? And let's not forget that some of the
greatest
> characters in modern fiction are enigmatic (Josef
K., for
> example).
>
> Best,
>
> MrT
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