Re: RARA-AVIS: Another Heresy -- The Black Mask and other pulp fiction

From: Jacques Debierue ( matrxtech@yahoo.com)
Date: 04 May 2005


--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Dennis Lynds" <dennislynds@c...> wrote:
> If I can put in my newcomer's two-cents, a few years ago I reread all of
> Hammet's novels, and RED HARVEST does not stand up. It's cliched and
> terribly dated. On the other hand I was totally surprised by THE THIN MAN.
> If you read it carefully, and try to forget the movie, it's a pretty damn
> good novel with much to say. The three in the middle hold up just fine, and
> THIN MAN deserves a reassessment, Robert Parker to the contrary.

I reread them several years ago, and I found Red Harvest dry but readable and with plenty of punch. But the surprise was The Dain Curse, which I loved. At the time I was reading people like Theodore Sturgeon and Fritz Leiber, and Dain fit in very nicely. I say it with full knowledge that nobody gives a dime for this novel... and the first time I had read it, it had left me cold (perhaps becuse I hadn't seen the irony in it). The same thing happened to me with Nelson Algren's A Walk on the Wild Side... a second reading corrected that and now I would say the book is essential reading... More about Algren later, since our guest has mentioned him and I know Algren has several other fans here.

Best,

MrT

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/S.QlOD/3MnJAA/Zx0JAA/kqIolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
  Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 04 May 2005 EDT