One day she accompanied me, upon some household errand, into the cellar of the old building which our poverty compelled us to inhabit. The cat followed me down the steep stairs, and, nearly throwing me headlong, exasperated me to madness. Uplifting an axe, and forgetting in my wrath the childish dread which had hitherto stayed my hand, I aimed a blow at the animal, which, of course, would have proved instantly fatal had it descended as I wished. But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded by the interference into a rage more than demonical, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot without a groan.
It starts with the “famous” Chester Himes, Iceberg Slim & Donald Goines and then mentions a lot more who are even less known.
About Chester Himes, the article says:
Himes was never able to find a measure of success here in the States. He found that his critical reception in France was much greater so he moved there in 1969. The interesting thing about the reception that Himes’ work received in Europe was that it was labeled as absurdist though he didn’t think of it that way. He would later write:
“And I thought I was writing realism. It never occurred to me that I was writing absurdity. Realism and absurdity are so similar in the lives of American blacks one cannot tell the difference.”
Tim Dorsey(big thumbs up), Carl Hiaasen, Hunter S. Thompson.
I just finished The Big Bamboo and was kind of disappointed. Serge has either run out of things to say that interest me or he needs to stay in Florida. Currently reading Nature Girl and enjoying it.
Tim Dorsey(big thumbs up), Carl Hiaasen, Hunter S. Thompson.
I just finished The Big Bamboo and was kind of disappointed. Serge has either run out of things to say that interest me or he needs to stay in Florida. Currently reading Nature Girl and enjoying it.
I just started a Tim Dorsey for the first time - Florida Roadkill. There’s sure a lot going on, right from the start.
I just finished reading James Ellroy - The Big Nowhere - and it was sure relentlessly bleak. I may be getting too old for that world view.
Okay, boys & girls, competition time again. `What is this & who does it remind you of (I’ve X’d out the names so it isn’t a giveaway)?
“I’ll swear,” XXXX said. He was looking at the six-shooter he had taken off old boy. It was an old frontier model, a .38 on a .45 frame. “I wish you could see this.”
“What is it,” XXXX said, “Hell, I’m driving.”.
There were six notches on the cedar butt of the revolver.
“I didn’t know we were doing business with a bad man,” XXXX said.
“Nigger killer,” XXXX said./ “That’s how he got these on here. That town was full of niggers back there.”
c’mon, the artistic license of that author might cover him putting those words in the mouth of a character in a novel, you carefully typing them out to put them in a post on this forum is just going to get us linked to by google in a way which will bring a lot of ‘white supremacists’ this way… and that ain’t something I feel comfortable associating an Elmore forum with.
Okay, boys & girls, competition time again. `What is this & who does it remind you of (I’ve X’d out the names so it isn’t a giveaway)?
Okay, I’m never going to get it, but I’d like to know. Who is it?
I’ve read a bunch of the people compared to Elmore Leonard by book reviewers and haven’t found any that come close—at least not in crime fiction.
But this quote you pull out is interesting because it brings up two things; language and racism. I’ve always liked how Elmore Leonard has never been afraid to present characters exactly like people I’ve met and known. Other writers try it and usually drop the ball (again, usually in crime fiction).
A few years ago a guy named Jonathon Dee wrote a novel called “St. Famous” which I think is as good as Elmore Leonard but it never really made any noise.
In this topic I’m assuming it’s not Elmore’s writing, though the passage reminds me of something I read recently by the Master. I’m thinking it was from Forty Lashes Less One. I know there’s a Dutch character out there uses a .38 on a .45 frame.
Yep. The N-word crops up a lot in 40 Lashes. Yep, an EL character uses a .38 on a .45 frame (less it’s the other way round) but nope it ain’t Elvin or any other Crowe. I can’t beleve no-one can think of who it is, or can’t be bothered to reply.
One connection is obscure but notable: the nigger-killin sheriff with the notches on his gun pops up in a number of William Burroughs’ writings. Can’t get more anti-xenophobe than that, Mister Pushpin.
As for the source text (as we say) I haven’t finished reading it yet, so I’ll write something about it later.
The passage is from Thieves Like Us by Edward Anderson, apparently a one-hit-wonder from the mid-30’s. But very modern-looking: consistent POV (though not multiple POV’s), faux-illiteracy, story told thru dialog & character’s thoughts, good bad guys, bunch of bank robbers spending most of their time lollygagging, talking about booze, women, food & shit & once in a while slipping out to rob a bank. Shame on you all for not stepping up to identify the EL character who packs a hybrid handgun (or “pimped pistol”): it’s Carlos Webster. In fact, The Hot Kid could be seen as a kind of pendant to Thieves Like `us, a view from the other side of the fence.
