RARA-AVIS: Re: Macdonald, Gatsby, etc.

From: Richard Moore ( moorich2@aol.com)
Date: 30 Nov 2004


--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Jacques Debierue"
<matrxtech@y...> wrote:
>
> --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Moore"
> <moorich2@a...> wrote:
> >
> <<That's a fair statement about Hammett. He had zero mercy
> and that made some stories more effective and others a bit
> empty. I think you are right that Macdonald brought compassion
> to the PI story, and that is a significant contribution.>>
>
> But he wasn't alone in bringing compassion into his PI stories:
> Thomas Dewey and William Campbell Gault both followed a
> similar path (in the case of Gault, this wasn't the only path,
> Callahan vs. Puma, etc.)
>
> Best,
>
> MrT

True enough. I believe Lew Archer had a four or five year headstart on Gault's Brock Callahan stories but I'm not certain when compassion began to be so evident in the Macdonald novels. My recollection is that Gault had it from the first book. And talking about name-challenged PIs! We too often forget Thomas Dewey's Mac novels. I am more familiar with the the later novels and certainly they had the C factor going for them. Not sure about the earlier Mac novels. Some series began hardboiled in the Spillane heyday and then softened (poached?) around 1960 or so. It's been years since I've read one.

Richard Moore

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