Re: RARA-AVIS: Gores's Spade and Archer

From: Brian Thornton (bthorntonwriter@gmail.com)
Date: 18 Jun 2010

  • Next message: Patrick King: "Re: RARA-AVIS: Gores's Spade and Archer"

    When I see the words "florid gasbag" and "James Ellroy" in the same post, I tend to draw my own conclusions.

    All the Best-

    Brian

    On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 4:11 PM, Patrick Kennedy <pbjk2004@yahoo.co.uk>wrote:

    >
    >
    > Was anyone else here rendered less than gruntled by Ellroy's review of
    > "Spade and Archer" during which he gratuitously seizes, or creates, an
    > opportunity to take a sideswipe at Chandler? Chandler, apparently, is a
    > 'florid gasbag' who is 'easy to imitate'. Oh really? Then how come Robert
    > B Parker failed so badly at it, and even Chandler himself couldn't quite
    > manage it towards the very end of his career?
    > There seems to be quite a bit of resentment around amongst certain crime
    > writers towards Chandler: a begrudging of his place in crime writing history
    > and the critical literary acclaim which came his way, and still does, while
    > it frequently eludes - most unjustifiably, to my mind - most practitioners
    > of the genre.
    > I think what Chandler possessed more than any other quality in the best of
    > his writing was poetry, heart and personality. Maybe Ellroy doesn't think
    > you need these qualities much if you're a crime writer, but I'm damned glad
    > Chandler had them, and in such gifted and entertaining abundance.
    >
    > Patrick
    >
    > ________________________________
    > From: Harry Joseph Lerner <harry.joseph.lerner@mail.mcgill.ca<harry.joseph.lerner%40mail.mcgill.ca>
    > >
    > To: "rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com <rara-avis-l%40yahoogroups.com>" <
    > rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com <rara-avis-l%40yahoogroups.com>>
    > Sent: Fri, 18 June, 2010 20:56:57
    > Subject: RE: RARA-AVIS: Gores's Spade and Archer
    >
    >
    > I just finished it too (and only a year and a half after first picking it
    > up!) I whole-heartedly agree that it was a terrific read! I particularly
    > liked the way Gores worked in the Flitcraft parable as a kind of jumping off
    > point for the story. And, no I haven't given anything away by saying that!
    >
    > Best,
    > Harry
    > ________________________________________
    > From: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com <rara-avis-l%40yahoogroups.com> [
    > rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com <rara-avis-l%40yahoogroups.com>] On Behalf Of
    > Stephen Burridge [stephen.burridge@gmail.com<stephen.burridge%40gmail.com>
    > ]
    > Sent: June 18, 2010 1:35 PM
    > To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com <rara-avis-l%40yahoogroups.com>
    > Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Gores's Spade and Archer
    >
    > OK... I have been hesitating, I will go for it. Thanks.
    >
    > Stephen Burridge
    >
    > On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 1:31 PM, jacquesdebierue
    > <jacquesdebierue@yahoo.com <jacquesdebierue%40yahoo.com><mailto:
    > jacquesdebierue%40yahoo.com <jacquesdebierue%2540yahoo.com>>>wrote:
    >
    > > I finally got around to reading this one... superb book. I didn't look,
    > but
    > > I am sure that some reviewers had reservations regarding this sort of
    > > project, but Gores did a great job, the book stands on its own, and there
    > is
    > > no feeling of pastiche. Gores managed to convey the same extreme clarity
    > > that Hammett's writing had --but then, Gores has that clarity in his
    > "own"
    > > work, so it's not surprising. If you were hesitating, go for it. This is
    > a
    > > very fine classic hardboiled novel.
    > >
    > > Best,
    > >
    > > mrt
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > ------------------------------------
    > >
    > > RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
    > > Yahoo! Groups Links
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    >
    > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
    >
    > ------------------------------------
    >
    > RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
    > Yahoo! Groups Links
    >
    > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
    >
    >
    >

    [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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