At 03:46 PM 29/11/2004 -0800, you wrote:
>Hammett and Chandler represented major paradigms
in
>the hardboiled genre, and I have no trouble seeing
the
>strength of their influence. I see nothing even
close
>to that in Ross Macdonald.
A lot of interesting stuff about Macdonald has been written
in response to this query, but the question was about
influence. In some ways I think this is like talking about
popular music post-Sinatra. So much has been influenced that
in retrospect it is sometimes to see the originator outside
the context of the mob.
In Macdonald's case we can begin with his classical
allusions. We're not a group keen on pretentious academic
analysis, but I think all of Macdonald's Archers, and other
novels, were based upon classic mythology. The author put the
behaviour of twentieth century North American criminals into
the context of Western Literature and influence, then updated
it in Freudian terms. Did Macdonald originate the
psychological mystery? I don't know, but I feel safe saying
he was present at the birth and rearing.
His viewpoint that the the sins of the fathers are visited
upon the sons loses a bit in this generalization. Inherently
the stories were about children being born into corruption,
and being victimized before having the opportunity to
recognize their circumstance- a situation that repeats
through the generations, back to the origins of western
culture. It sets the stage for novels about child abuse, and
recalls other books like Motherless Brooklyn to my
mind.
Macdonald also equated environmental corruption with
individual corruption. In Macdonald's case, he wrote about
the effect of oil rigs on the California landscape. In
Chinatown it was the water diversion from agricultural Orange
County to feed the growth of Los Angeles. Since at RA we
focus on written text, it's reasonable that we might miss
Macdonald's hand all over Chinatown- the corruption of
children, the environment and the PI drawn to and repelled by
what he finds, but what do we know about Gittes as a man
after the film is finished except that he is a man, a PI, and
a fast-talking businessman trying to keep his head above
water? The thing that sticks in my mind is that private club
that supports the retirement home to register land in its
residents' names. Isn't that Macdonald's Coral Club, or
whatever, that appears in many of his novels?
I don't know that Ellroy has claimed Macdonald as an
influence, though he is well known to regard Macdonald above
Chandler. Think of the young boy born into a world of
corruption that he cannot comprehend, and I think we have
Ellroy's literary quest and Macdonald's influence. Hammet's
PI protagonists are tough enough to survive outside a
corruption focused on specific characters. Chandler's Marlowe
is a romantic, not himself mean. But for Macdonald, the child
is born into a culture of corruption and cannot avoid being a
part of it.
Another thing, regarding style. Might we say that Macdonald
broke noir free of its dependence on the hardboiled style?
Not to say that nothing worthwhile was written in the HB
style since, but I think of Macdonald's style as more
straightforward than self-consciously tough and colloquial,
suggesting that after Macdonald we may think of hard boil and
noir as different things. I'm not as well read as most of
you, so maybe that's why I can't think of this divergence
before Macdonald. Anyway, I expect you'll tell me where I'm
wrong.
Best Kerry
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