To Brian Thornton,
Maybe Barnum said that, but I think what you wanted to quote
was HL Mencken's "No one ever went broke UNDER-estimating the
American public."
Dennis Lynds
----- Original Message ----- From: "Brian Thornton" <
tieresias@worldnet.att.net> To: <
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 04,
2005 7:29 AM Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Another Heresy -- The
Black Mask and other pulp fiction
> My Pal Jack Bludis wrote:
>
> > Something that many of us at Rara_Avis miss
is
> > that not all of Chandler and Hammett was
great.
> > It's a comment rarely made here. Many of us
seem
> > to have the opinion that just because C or
H
> > wrote it, it must be good. Some of it is
just
> > crap where we are treated ti the development
of
> > the hardboiled genre.
>
> With his characteristic bluntness, Jack makes a
salient point here. Hey
> Jack, been reading some Carrol John Daly, or
something? Because you just
> described everything I've ever read by the guy!
;)
>
> > Many of their Black Mask stories were just
"shoot
> > 'em ups." with little character develoment
and
> > hardly any story line. For me, even
*Red
> > Harvest,* a combination of six novellas with
each
> > judged individually, is just a shoot 'em
up.
>
> I can see what you're saying about RED HARVEST, but
let's face it, the
> Continental Op in RED HARVEST is as effete, fussy
and mincing as Hercule
> Poirot when compared to the two-fisted head-stomping
of Mickey Spillane's
> Mike Hammer in *anything* he's ever done. Some of
Hammett's stuff is just
> uneven, too. Take WOMAN IN THE DARK (Please!). I
finished that and
> wondered, what the heck is the point? That's
something I found myself
> nearly always asking with Spillane. Likewise with
"Blackmailers Don't
> Shoot." Lord, was that putrid. I couldn't believe
Chandler was actually
> able to sell it when I first read it.
>
> > It was the demand of the pulp fiction crime
story
> > of the day. Others who wrote this stuff
are
> > forgotten beccause they never went on to
write
> > great novels as Chandler and Harris
did.
>
> Oh, I don't know. Has Mickey Spillane's stuff ever
gone out of print?
> There are modern authors who get high praise here
who I also think fit
into
> this bill: forgetable, cliched faire, that won't
stay in print long. But
> with apologies to Mr. Barnum, no one ever went broke
over-estimating the
> good taste of the American public.
>
> I hasten to add that there are authors out there who
do violence with a
> point, and do a damned fine job of it. That great
Irish scribe Ken Bruen
> comes to mind (and not just because he's a personal
mate of mine, the guy
> writes scenes that make me want to look away, but
because he's such a
damned
> good writer, I just can't bring myself to do it, I
have to keep turning
the
> page. Not every crime writer can do that), then
there's our own Al
Guthrie,
> who can make you want to turn the page when a man's
mother is killed in
> horrific fashion right before his (and our) eyes. No
mean feat, that.
> Also, just off the top of my head (because I
finished his second novel not
> that long ago), there's Sean Doolittle, whose BURN
is a satisfying, funny
> hard-boiled read.
>
> However, for every Hammett or Chandler, guys who
sounded the odd sour note
> in what was otherwise an outstanding symphony of
work, there were (and
> continue to be) dozens of others just piling up the
bodies with no other
> purpose than to write gratuitous, book-selling,
page-turning violence.
>
> Your Mileage May Vary.
>
> Back To Lurkdom (got a deadline)-
>
> Brian Thornton
>
>
>
>
> RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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