Didn't you guys read what I said?
You guys don't have to like Spenser, and I never said you had
to, but you can't criticize him on one hand for all the very
un-Marlowe-like things he does, and then on the other write
him off as an empty copy. At the very least, whether he
succeeded or failed, Parker should be credited with trying to
move beyond Chandler and stake out his own turf.
You don't like where Parker went, that's fine. I have
problems with a good chunk of the series, myself, but I
admire that he left the circle of retro-mimickry and
fuzzy-headed nostalgia long ago. 1949 is over.
If you want to really look at empty mimickry, look at all the
Spenser clones that have popped up in the last twenty or so
years. Some of those series have been running on second-hand
fumes for years now, with nary a glimpse of originality in
sight.
--
Kevin Burton Smith The Thrilling Detective Web Site http://www.thrillingdetective.com
Now online: Our December issue. The Thrillies. Christmas Gifts. New fiction. And Tim Broderick's ODD JOBS. -- # To unsubscribe from the regular list, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # majordomo@icomm.ca. This will not work for the digest version. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
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