Reacher/Scudder/Bosch

Okay, boys and girls, time for my promised commentary about some of my favorite thriller/crime writers and their recurring characters. Recurring main characters are very tricky, especially if the books featuring them become commercially successful. On the one hand, you can really develop a rich character given the luxury of plotting their development over the course of several books. On the other hand, you run the double edged sword of losing your audience's affection if you change the character too much, versus losing your audience by allowing the character to remain too static. These are challenges really good writers find ways to deal with. Three characters that are genre legends, and happen to be three of my favorites for differing reasons are: Jack Reacher,creation of Lee Childs, and featured, as of this writing, in twenty novels, Harry Bosch, creation of Michael Connelly, featured, as of this writing, in twenty-one novels. and Matthew Scudder, creation of Lawrence Block, featured, as of this writing, in seventeen novels (though only three since 1998).

Let's start with a look at Jack (no middle name) Reacher. Most of the characters in his universe just call him Reacher, and he is the most iconic and legendary within the world of his own novels. He is a former Major, an Army cop, who after retiring from the Army chooses to live life off the grid as a sort of wandering hobo. He carries only a toothbrush, passport, and in a nod to modern civilization, a debit card. When his clothes get too dirty or smelly, he just buys a new outfit and throws the old ones away. Of course, he is brilliant when it comes to deduction and the art of observation. He has a head for numbers. Additionally, he is a huge man, possessed of great physical strength who also happens to be a military championship level marksman. The trick that Mr. Childs has pulled off, deftly for the most part, is to make Reacher so extreme, the reader can't wait for his next feat of physical prowess or mental acuity. The author has to ride the fine line between fantastic and ridiculous, possible and unbelievable. Mr. Childs has written on Reacher prolifically, averaging about one book a year for twenty years. Some of the books have been very plot driven suspenseful nail biters, usually featuring Reacher taking on some conspiracy plot and coming out on top against all odds. Some of the books have been more character driven, involving his family relationships. or his involvement with a woman. Unfortunately, Mr. Childs is a good writer but not a truly great one, and his best books were the earlier ones in the series. The last few, Never Go Back, A Wanted Man, Personal, were particularly formulaic. This reader gets the feeling that the last few were paying the bills. And heck, we all gotta' eat, but I don't have to spend my valuable time reading it. I have not read the most recent Reacher novel, Make Me, and I'm in no hurry. Contrast that to early in the series, when I waited anxiously for my next dose of Reacher.I would heartily recommend "The Killing Floor", "Tripwire" (which features the best villain of the entire series), "Persuader" (the best beginning of any of the books), "One Shot" (the basis for the Jack Reacher movie), and "The Affair" (perhaps my favorite).

Heironymous Bosch, better known as Harry, is an LA police detective, who works homicide in the first two thirds of the novels, and cold cases in the most recent third. Harry's mom was murdered when he was a child, and he was an orphan, product of the social services system, and his character is fueled by issues of resentment, identity, and the fight for the underdog. He was a tunnel rat in the Vietnam War before becoming a detective. Unlike Reacher, you have a "real" person here. The Bosch novels take place in a very real Los Angeles and the plots are typical police procedurals. What the author, Michael Connelly has done, is created a very nuanced character that the reader cares about at least long enough to find out how the book ends. Mr. Connelly has, unfortunately, put his character through more than his share of melodrama featuring the kidnapping of his daughter and murder of his ex-wife. All in all though, we root for Harry without conditions. How can you dislike a guy whose motto is "someone has to speak for the victim"? My recommendations for Bosch are: "The Black Echo", "The Concrete Blonde", "The Last Coyote", and "The Narrows".  Though most any of the Bosch novels will give you your money's worth.

Matthew Scudder, has the luxury of coming from the mind of Lawrence Block, the best writer of these three. Scudder killed a young girl, an innocent bystander, in the pursuit of a bad guy, and this brought on his retirement from the NYC police force and a descent into alcoholism. He makes ends meat by taking jobs, sort of a private eye, but more of a fixer, as people are referred to him by his street pals, old friends on the force, etcetera.  He is a normal guy, no superpowers, he's not a great fighter or a great shot, but he is resourceful and cunning. It's is both entertaining and agonizing to watch the potent cocktail of alcohol and guilt from which he emerges in the early books to bring someone justice or make something right. As the series progresses, he sobers up, and that has its own challenges. Mr. Block, being a brilliant writer (write to please yourself, he says, so he isn't worried about what his audience thinks) supports Scudder with great characters, both "bad" guys and friends. His best friend, Mick, is a Hell's Kitchen thug, who owns a bar, and his weapon of choice is a meat cleaver (says it all). His girl-friend is an ex-hooker (yeah Block is great, but this character borders on cliché) with the proverbial heart of gold. Mr. Block also makes so much of the  New York City backdrop that the city almost functions like a character in the stories.  In  one of many notable moments in the series, after a night of brutality that results in the rescue of an innocent and the death of two horrible human beings, Mick and Scudder get back to Mick's bar at dawn. Without a word, Mick goes and puts on his butcher's apron, and he and Scudder walk a few blocks to the early morning "butcher's mass" at Trinity Church. The poignancy and irony of the moment is not lost on the reader. As I've said in a previous post about John Irving, Mr. Block writes entire paragraphs I wish I could write on my best day. The level of writing is seriously good here. All the Scudder novels are worth reading, but I think Mr. Block was at the height of his powers in the early 90's when he wrote "A Ticket to the Boneyard", "A Dance at the Slaughterhouse", and "A Walk Among the Tombstones" back to back to back.

Next time, we're going to cover a writer from another country, just haven't chosen between two, so maybe you get both. In the meantime, read well and prosper.

Can't Live Without 'Em

To the few who read this, my humble apology for such a long gap between posts. I had a serious run-in with pneumonia in April that put me in the hospital. It took a long time to recover. During the recovery, we moved, and even though the new house is beautiful, the move was a LOT of work.

One of the joys of moving was that I got to unpack and reset my library. That meant lots of rummaging through boxes, getting reacquainted with my "old friends". Recently, I came across a NY Times article about someone writing a book based on asking various "famous" people what ten books they can't live without. I thought about that some, and it's an intriguing question. NOT, what ten books do I want on a desert island, and NOT what are my ten favorite books.... rather, what ten books can I NOT live without? Holy cow! When you think about it, it's a hell of a question.

While ruminating on that, here's what's been on the night table in the bedroom, side table in the sun room, on my desk, etc.... "Seeing Further", edited by Bill Bryson, is an amazing book compiling essays by first-rate scientists and science writers giving their take on the "royal society", which may, or may not, depending on the way you think, be responsible for the development of modern science as we know it. Great stuff about Boyle, and Huygens, and Locke and Wren and Newton and Leibnitz, and so on. Early enlightenment thinkers are one of my favorite areas of interest,so I am geeking out on this book. Finished the latest Reacher novel by Lee Childs, called "Personal", it wasn't very... I think Mr. Childs is cashing checks rather than continuing to develop what was once a most fascinating character. Knocked off "Memorial Day" by Vince Flynn in about three days. Almost done with "Transfer of Power" by the same author. Mr. Flynn writes thrillers about political espionage featuring a recurring character, Mitch Rapp. If you've watched a season of  "24" then you know all the plots in the Mitch Rapp series. They are beyond predictable. However,the guy does write really good action scenes. Utlimately, that's not enough, and I'm done, at least for a while, after this one. Also finished "Wait for Signs" by Craig Johnson, one of my most favorite writers. It is a short story collection about the beleaguered sheriff of Asharoka County, Montana, one Walt Longmire. Mr. Johnson writes economically, but also beautifully, rendering interior dialogues of characters and the natural settings of the West, in magnificent fashion. He sprinkles his stories and dialogue with wit and humor.  Can't wait for whatever he writes next. Finally, I just read the Hangman's Daughter, it's a German novel, written by Oliver Potzsch, issued in America in translation, and it's the first of three in a series he's written. It is fresh, dark, scary,and funny. Mr. Potzsch has an original voice and he certainly knows his history. The setting is medieval Germany (then actually Bavaria) and it is a time of superstition, hangmen, corrupt barons, and nosey children. He handles these elements in unpredictable ways. I could not stop turning the pages.

Okay, here, not in any particular order,  are the ten books I can't live without (for today, tomorrow the list might be different,nyah!):

1)  The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle  - this jewel has every word Conan Doyle wrote about the mercurial Mr. Holmes. Don't see how I could live without the kooky, clever goings on at 221B Baker Street. How boring would life be without an occasional peak into the mind of the world's greatest detective?

2) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien - even though it's three books, Tolkien wrote it as one, so it's not cheating to count it as one selection, and if it is, I once again say nyah, cause after all this is my blog. Anyway, not every day by any stretch, but every once in a while, I have to relive the adventures and relationships of Sam, Frodo, Gandolf,  the Bal-Rog, etc... Simply the most entertaining "alternative world" creation of them all. I think the scenes with Shelob, the giant spider are the most terrifying, and the first time I read it, I really did think the fate of Frodo was in doubt. It seemed entirely possible that Tolkien would kill off his main character, and that's the mastery of it. He wrote a story wherein anything was possible and you just had to read it to find out.

3) The History of Philosophy by Will Durant - I know, NOT his history of civilization? But again, it's books I can't live without and that is a bit different from favorites. I need to review what I think I know, and mostly what I don't know about the world's great thinkers from time to time, and here in one volume, are the most concise and readily understandable summaries of what they thought. There are even moments when I think I have a clue as to what the hell Hagel is talking about, thanks to Durant.

4) The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote -three volumes I know, too damn bad, it's one book. Anyway, I can't live without an accurate, lively civil war book, and Foote's is not necessarily the best, but it may be the best written. He tells a terribly well known piece of our history in a most engaging, entertaining and thought provoking way.

5) The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry - how do I include Eliot, Stevens, Moore, Yeats, Carlos Williams, Alan Duggan,et al, without using all of my picks on poets? That's what anthologies are made for, and what a great one this is. Thorough and inclusive, the pages are bent, the binding is cracking, and it is filled with underlining and notes from many years of enjoyable reading. Great book.

6) Victorian Prose and Poetry -yet another anthology, but I must have the amazing, inventive poetic monologues of Robert Browning, yes, he did invent the form. There's no living without Tennyson or Herbert or Chapman either, and the essay's of Pope and Carlyle, etc... it was a wonderful period of writing that speaks to the contemporary heart and mind. Least, it does to mine.

7) The Bible - from a literary standpoint, most everything written by western civilization was stolen or adapted or copied from the Bible. The Torah, the Psalms, the Book of Job, etc... religious significance aside, it is a treasury of great literature. Ezekiel? C'mon, one of the great angry rants in the history of literature. God telling man I WILL SMITE THEE WITH MY MIGHTY SWORD. Gotta love that. We think twice about that. It's not quite the same thing as the cowardly lion in the forest saying, "C'mon, put 'em up, put 'em up", now, is it?

8) A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving - not a ton of fiction on the list, it's not as re-readable as non-fiction is, however, this is the best North American novel of the 20th century. It is a masterpiece of writing. There are writers, that every once in a while, write a sentence, that makes me say, I wish I could write like that. Irving fills books with paragraphs that make me say that. Themes about identity and perspective and faith and family are intertwined in this coming of age novel about two New England boys. Maybe I identify because of being adopted and questions of family and identity have always run deep in my head. It mystifies me that this is not Mr. Irving's most popular book. I can, and have read sections of it over and over.

9) Dracula by Bram Stoker - of course a gothic novel had to make the list. Tough call, love "The Monk" by Matthew Lewis, but I can't live without revisiting the great gothic tale of the Count with a taste for other than wine.... Much informed by hollywood, the modern reader has a surprise waiting in this book, which is a taut, pyschological thriller, and a bit different from the movie versions. For a famous novel, it strikes me as being vastly underrated.

10) The Riverside Shakespeare - can't possibly live without the bard from Stratford-on -Avon. It's all here, every word he's ever written, all the plays, all the sonnets, with great introductory essays and useful annotations throughout. Like the Norton Modern Poetry, this is full of notes and underlining. If he's not the greatest writer that ever lived, it's hard to make a sensible argument that leaves him out of the top three. And if you're reading something and the plot wasn't taken from the Bible, it was taken from Shakespeare. Who, by the by, borrowed quite a few of his plots, but that's a story for another time.

So these are the ten books that, for today, I can't live without. I'm curious, what are yours?


 

Haiku

One of the more challenging forms of poetry, Haiku is the art of three line poetry. In most cases, the structure is syllabic, with lines of 5-7-5. It is much easier said than done. The Haiku originated in the Japanese literary tradition and may be thousands of years old. The masters of the tradition are Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson, and Kobayashi Issa.  Basho lived in the second half of the seventeenth century, Buson was mid eighteenth century, and Issa was late eighteenth, early nineteenth century. All three men were born on farms and lived rural childhoods. Additionally, all three were travelers and spent time in the major cities of Edo (now more familiar as Tokyo) and Kyoto. Haikus pay attention to time and space often using a classic theme from the Japanese courts combined with a natural image.
Time for some examples, we will go in order of seniority, so Basho starts us off:

Autumn moonlight -
a worm digs silently
into the chestnut.

               As for the hibiscus
on the roadside------
              my horse ate it.

            Summer grass---
all that's left
            of a warrior's dreams.

Now, don't fall into the trap about the 5-7-5 syllable structure; these are translations, it worked in the original. Translators are stuck with sticking to the exact form versus capturing the essence of the writer's expression and almost always go with the second. Try writing some Haikus in English and then make sure they work out to 5-7-5 when translated into Japanese. You get me? Next up is Buson, an artist, his illustrations are quite well known.

           White blossoms of the pear----
and a woman in moonlight
           reading a letter.

        Straw sandal half sunk
in an old pond
        in the sleety snow.

          He's on the porch
to escape the wife and kids-----
         how hot it is!

You can hear the difference in tone between Basho and Buson. Basho is a seeker, his Haiku are almost meditative. Buson is a painter, and his Haiku are more like word paintings.Issa, the last of the great triumvirate is the Humanist in the group. He uses the form to illustrate the value and beauty of humankind.

      Don't worry spiders,
I keep house
       casually.

     Children imitating cormorants
are even more wonderful
     than cormorants.

    Washing the saucepans----
the moon glows on her hands
     in the shallow river.

One more from Issa that I just love because it's funny:

     Writing shit about new snow
for the rich
       is not art.

Credit to Robert Hass, editor of "The Essential Haiku" for the biographical notes and translations.
If you are reading this, it is my hope that you can get a sense of how universal and how deeply personal these poems are. Americans have, of course, done their best to imitate the form... Jewish writers seem to have done well with the sense of irony required, as this example illustrates.

Four thousand years of Hebrew
and still no word for "tact".
So who needs it?

Next time I think we will visit some of my favorite recurring characters in the mystery/thriller genre.

 

What I'm Reading Now

This will be a recurring feature depending on what I'm reading now, says Captain Obvious. Anyway, I started this blog in order to share my love of books and things bookish. Its the feel of the pages, the age of the book, the type of binding, the smell... ah, we teeter on the edge of book porn. On to the current pages I'm turning...

The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto - Mr. Shorto is one of my very favorite nonfiction writers. His "Descarte's Bones" is a marvel of a book and this effort is almost as good. Here the subject is New York, but not when it was New York, rather when it was New Amsterdam and the center of a "new world". Mr. Shorto points out that scholarship on the Dutch period of American settlement has been, up to now, rather slim, and very biased. It does seem as though most books on early American history start with the sale of Manhattan from the Dutch to the English, with a mention of the Dutch purchasing it from the Indians for about 24 dollars in "trinkets". This story gets told often because it is amusing to elementary school children. However, as the author points out it is also wildly inaccurate and incredibly pejorative Mr. Shorto also does a great job of fleshing out the players of the time including the ambitious Peter Minuit, the severe Peter Stuyvesant and the erstwhile hero, Adrian Van der Donck. The fact that you've never heard of Van der Donck  tell you how he made out. Good stuff if you have any taste for history.

The Book of Guys by Garrison Keillor -  Mr. Prairie Home Companion is a polarizing figure, people either love him or hate him, and I'm a fan. With that personal bias out of the way, this is a damn funny book. Its a collection of articles, radio commentary, and short stories Mr. Keillor has written themed around "things guy". The story about his night at the campfire with the guys is hilarious. There are a series of events similar to the "Blazing Saddles" campfire scene and we will leave it there. The author also makes some sharp observations about the behavior of men and women, some funny, and some funny-sad. The kind of book you can pick up and read a few pages at a time.

A Long Argument by Ernst Mawr - Mr. Mawr is one of the staunch defenders of evolution and things Darwin. He has written longer and better books, but this one ain't shabby. In it, he sums up for the layperson, or the mildly interested, his major arguments about the things Darwin got right. One of the reasons he is an interesting writer is that he is not an extremist and does not gloss over the ideas of Darwin that are still inconclusive or proved in the years since Darwin's death to be just plain wrong. The point he makes and in my view, it's a damn good one, is don't get distracted by Darwin's imperfection, he's only human. Rather, try to grasp how much about which he was right.

Five Not-so-Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman - Most folks know Mr. Feynman;  if they can name any scientists at all, or more specifically, any physicists at all, they name him. It is amazing to me though, how few people who have heard of him have actually read anything by him. He's a bit like Einstein or Darwin, people quote them and talk about their work all the time, but these same people, for the most part, have not read a single word they've written. Okay, that's my elitist bitch for the day. Thank you for listening. Anyway, Dr. Feynman actually explains some principles of Physics in a way that I can understand, and that is one hell of an accomplishment, let me tell you. Plus, he's really funny. And the world of funny, world famous physicists is small, trust me.

The First World War by John Keegan - Mr. Keegan is very well known military historian who writes about military history from the "battle" perspective. To understand the war, one must understand who the different officers in the field were, why the troops moved as they did, and how artillery and other factors (like airplanes and the weather) influence outcomes. What differentiates Mr. Keegan from the horde of historians in this particular school is the good job he does relating these matters to the larger geopolitical landscape. Mr. Keegan's book on the Civil War is in my pile of "next in line" books, so I'll let you know if that is a consistent quality or not when I get to it.

Lee and His Men at Gettysburg by Clifford Dowdey - The Civil War is a passionate interest of mine, and Mr. Dowdey is one of the classic historians of the conflict. So far, there isn't much in this one I haven't encountered elsewhere, except for the detail of the relationships between General Lee and his men. I have not done enough footnote checking to know how accurate Mr. Dowdey's information is, and I do not know if I will make the time. Of particular interest is Lee's relationship with "Jeb" Stuart. It's the author's hypothesis that Lee lost the battle and perhaps the whole war by putting too much faith in the wrong man, as Stuart was too vain and too independent to closely follow orders. Don't know if I buy it. I'm not much of a "one thing was responsible for this" guy when it comes to major events in history.

Silver Bears, Columbus, and The Dark Guys by Derek Haas - This is a three volume set of short novels known as the "Assassin Trilogy". This is basically check your brains at the door, rock-em sock-em pulp action stuff. The main character is sort of a cross between Adam Hall's Quiller (the organism leaves the window open and the air-conditioning off so it can adjust to the desert heat) and Barry Eisler's John Rain (I like my violence quick and dirty). Mr. Haas writes well, and these are quick and entertaining reads if you like action yarns where the body count piles up. If not, well, aren't you a daisy? Just skip these books.

That's a wrap for this edition... so what are you reading now?

The Poet's Art - Perfect word choices

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) lived almost his entire life in New Jersey. He was a quintessential American poet. He was a physician which helps to explain the surgical nature of the construction of his poems. Unfortunately, he did not enjoy much fame or renown in his lifetime. He won the Pulitzer Prize posthumously. His status as the mentor, the "grandfather" if you will, of some of the most well known contemporary poets was not common knowledge in his lifetime. The fact remains though, that today he is a widely recognized and appreciated master of American poetry. I come back to him time after time when I'm struggling with syntax or appropriateness of word choice. These are the elements he mastered. His short, clear phrases ring with power and meaning. I attended a course in Modern Poetry early in my college career and the professor started the first minute of the first class by handing out a copy of a Williams poem and asking the class if it was poetry and why. It remains one of my favorites:

                                              The Red Wheelbarrow
                             
                                               so much depends
                                               upon

                                               a red wheel
                                               barrow

                                               glazed with rain
                                               water

                                               beside the white
                                               chickens.

Consider the first four words: so/much/depends/upon... It's imperative to read poetry aloud to really "hear" it. When one reads that there is a staccato rhythm to it, and a seriousness of tone, which the poet turns on it's head with the next phrase: a red wheelbarrow. This is a completely unexpected coupling of thought and image. And lest we fail to conjure up the right picture of a red wheelbarrow, the poet finishes the painting with precise description: glazed with rain water... beside the white chickens. The choice of the word glazed is masterful for both the sound and the meaning, and, of course, the chickens had to be white. It is highly American to write an ode about the necessity of tools that help get basic things done. I mean, truly, how rich is this one sentence?

For me, poetry succeeds when the words on the page create a picture or mental image in the reader's mind that is memorable, suggestive, and powerful. Consider the first two verses of "Fish":

It is the whales that drive
the small fish into the fiords.
I have seen forty or fifty
of them in the water at one time.
I have been in a little boat
when the water was boiling
on all sides of us
from them swimming underneath.

The noise of the herring
can be heard nearly a mile.
So thick in the water, they are,
you can't dip the oars in.
All silver!

Consider the difference between - they are so thick in water, and "so thick in the water, they are" - one is a longitudinal statement you might find in an essay, the other is the replication of the spoken word. You can hear a fisherman saying it just like that. Subtle distinctions in word choice and word order are at the core of what makes Dr. Williams such an interesting poet.

In "The Dance", Williams describes a painting he'd seen by Breughel, "The Kermess". Now, many poets and would-be poets have described works of art to varying degrees of success. Some have been described as wonderful translations of the original painting. I think the word translation is not at all a complement to the poet. Translation is blue collar work. The poet as an artist should not translate a visual work of art in their poetry, they ought to transform it instead. And that is what Williams does as he brings the reader right into the middle of the action (a dance) that can be seen on the canvas.

It is our good fortune that much of WCW's work can be accessed. His poems appear in a multitude of anthologies and collections and his complete works are available as well. If you appreciate language manipulated as a jazzman manipulates musical notes you must expose yourself to this man's work. We close this posting with another of my favorites, and as it always does, WCW's work speaks most loudly for itself:

                                                                       Poem

                                                               As the cat
                                                               climbed over
                                                               the top of

                                                              the jamcloset
                                                              first the right
                                                              forefoot

                                                              carefully
                                                              then the hind
                                                              stepped down

                                                              into the pit of
                                                              the empty
                                                              flowerpot
 

I'm back -favorite short story writers

 I've decided to return to the blogosphere to write about a topic that seems to be at the core of my life... books. This blog will feature the writers and works that have proved important to me over the years. They've either irritated, provoked, entertained, amused, or fascinated me for any variety of reasons, and over time we will see if you agree. Today's topic is some of my favorite short story writers. The short story seems to be losing steam as a popular form, but I grew up on short stories and it has occurred to me that many of them have influenced me, especially during my especially awkward teenage years. So, in no particular order:

 

Arthur Conan Doyle - Amazing how famous this guy became through the invention of one iconic character and one genre of story telling. Yes, he wrote other things, but really, how many can you name? He goes as far as Sherlock Holmes can carry him, and that's pretty far. Is there a more fascinating or engaging character in all of literature? He has become a true cultural icon. The fact remains that Doyle spins some great stories around Holmes and I don't think he would have become the timeless legend he is without high quality stories to support his character development. There will be a future blog about all things Holmes, but for now, "The Final Problem", A Study in Scarlet", "His Last Bow", "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", all from different periods in Doyle's career should support my point.

 

Geoffrey Chaucer- I know, I know, it's barely recognizable as English in the original, but it's worth figuring out how to read it. "The Pardoner's Tale", "The Miller's Tale", "The Nun's Priest's Tale, and of course "The Wife of Bath's Tale", are all classics for a reason.

 

James Thurber- By now, you've figured out that I'm bouncing all over time and place, and so it goes. Thurber is downright funny. I am partial to dogs, but Thurber's collection of dog stories will entertain you regardless of your feelings about animals. And he's no one trick pony, having written plenty of stories that have nothing to do with canine antics.

 

Raymond Carver- reminds me of a painter. His spare use of just the right words strikes the same chord in me as when an artist uses just the right shade of a color, or density of a brushstroke to refine a painting. "Where I'm Calling From", "What we Talk about When we Talk About Love", "A Small, Good Thing", "A Calm Talk" are all masterpieces that demonstrate the power of less is more. 

 

Herman Melville- I know, I know, what the heck is the author of Moby Dick doing in a post about short stories? Well, he wrote, what for my money, is one of the greatest short stories ever written, "Bartleby the Scrivener". It's an amazingly powerful story about passive resistance and the pathology of extreme human behavior. "I would prefer not to", is one of my favorite literary quotes.

 

Edgar Allan Poe- Just say short story, and most people think - Poe. He is truly a master of the craft, with a multitude of stories that are actually famous. To think there are so few people that read, and even less that can rattle off a list of short stories they've read, but almost everyone has heard of "The Telltale Heart", "The Black Cat", or "The Pit and the Pendulum".  Heck, "The Cask of Amontillado" was just referenced on an episode of NCIS for crying out loud. "Murder in the Rue Morgue" is another of my personal favorites. Poe is often credited for inventing the modern detective story, I don't know if that is true, suppose it depends on how one defines "modern".

 

Jack London- An exceptional, naturalistic writer, Mr. London has fallen out of popularity in the last twenty years or so. This may have to do with his personality, as anti-Semitic communists are not on the top of anyone's popular lists in America. However, my view is that the foibles of the person are irrelevant. How does their work stack up on paper? By that measure London is as good or better than anyone in the short story arena. "The White Silence" and "To Build a Fire" are fine examples of his work. When I went to junior high school everyone had to read "To Build a Fire". I have no idea if that is true anymore, but I hope it still is.

 

Kate Chopin- "The Awakening" is one of the most heartrending and brilliant short stories I've ever read. It's a shame her life was so short and we don't have more work from her. What we have is underappreciated and underrated. She is a marvelous writer.

 

The Russians-  There is no way to make a list of great short story writers without Chekhov, Gogol, Gorsky and Turgenev.  Many consider Chekhov the greatest short story writer ever. I certainly admire "The Woman with the White Dog" and "The Black Monk". That said, I think the best Russian short story may be Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat". And Turgenev's "The Country Doctor" is a very moving story as well. More about Russian writers in future posts.

 

Collected Short Stories- As hard as it is to write one good short story, imagine writing several that are connected by theme, or a narrative arch, and publishing the result in book length form. Many authors have done this to varying degrees of success. My three favorites are: James Joyce- "The Dubliners" - C'mon now, "Araby", "A Little Cloud", and "The Dead" are three GREAT short stories and they are all part of this one collection. I have a minority opinion that Joyce was more of a genius in the short form that as a novelist. Sherwood Anderson- "Winesburg, Ohio" is a singular work of magnificent quality. "The Untold Lie" may be the great American short story. This collection is as good a view into early 20th century American life as there is. And Ernest Hemingway- "A Movable Feast" is the book many consider the best unified collection of stories ever written. I don't know if I'd go that far, but it is gripping, funny, sad, and provocative. It is a short textbook on human nature and life experience. Hemingway deserves the last word in this blog, as his canon of short stories is as high quality as there is. If you don't believe me try "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" or "The Short, Happy Life of Frances Macomber". or "The Killers". Hollywood has found enough meat in "The Killers" to have made it into a movie several times.

 

That's all for now, except I forgot G.K. Chesterton, whose series of short stories about the ever curious Father Brown, kept me entertained when I was young, and still give me something when I go back to them. 

 

 Some of this will get additional attention in the weeks or months ahead if the Lord is willing and the creek doesn't rise. Coming attractions: The Greatest North American novel, More on Russian writers, the Renaissance, Most Influential Books- part 1.