--- Duane Spurlock <
duane1spur@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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.
I've been going through a big backlog of rara-avis posts, so
forgive me if it's been mentioned already
(or is ahead of me) but the obvious example of Crumley's
influence is Kent Anderson's NIGHT DOGS, which is essentially
"Crumley if he wrote a straightforward police procedural". (I
think it's quite fine, despite it's debts.) Crumley wrote the
introduction to Anderson's SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL (not so
good, I think) and there's obviously some kind of direct
linkage.
I think Crumley is often cited as an influence nowadays
because he's essentially become legendary. I'm not sure how
much of it is really the case, though
-- and I say this as a great admirer of the man and his work.
I don't read a lot of books that "feel" like they owe much to
Crumley.
One sees a bit of it, maybe, in a general sense of pained
romanticism (Pelecanos comes to mind) and in an unapologetic
roiling around in drinking and drug taking. But you can
imagine other sources for that, too (Bukowski, for
example.)
A far more obvious nfluence from the same time period is
Parker: few people praise the Spenser novels anymore, but his
influence seems to be pervasive -- the homicidal sidekick,
the pi who forms an
"alternative" family, the love affair/soap opera, etc. Parker
deserves credit for reimagining the genre: I don't especially
like the result, but that's another post.
I think Ross MacDonald's influence was most felt in the
Seventies, where there were many lonely PIs investigating
small tragedies in catalytic ways. The worst of the books
from that period are pretty dreary, but the best authors are
memorable (consider the perpetually underrated Stephen
Greenleaf, say, or Michael Lewin.)
doug
===== Doug Bassett
dj_bassett@yahoo.com
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 03 Dec 2004 EST