I know that noir/mystery never gets any respect as literature.
That's not necessarily true. (Former English Lit Major, here - who took numerous courses on noir and genre, with a literary father who spends time perusing used bookstores.)
The problem with mystery, noir, chick-lit, thriller, adventure, romance, westerns, science fiction and fantasy novels is a good percentage are written formulaic or "pulp". And there's a vast number published. The best seller's or prolific genre writers tend to follow a format guaranteed to sell, but you will on occassion get people who have merit.
How you can tell? By how long they've lasted in print or the test of time. The quick fads are often out of print very quickly.
Examples of noir and mystery novels that were written by people who mastered the craft include:
Edgar Allen Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue Dashielle Hammett's The Thin Man Patricia (forget her last name) - Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley Agatha Christie's Curtain and Murder on the Orient Express Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn
And in sci-fantasy and horror?
Philip K. Dick's - The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Octavia Butler's Kindred Ursula Le Quinn's The Left Hand of Darkness Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and The Lottery
Butcher's a fun writer, but he's not quite in the same class. Don't get me wrong, I love his books. But they are like David Baldacci,John Grisham, Crichton, John Jakes, and Janet Evanoich...fun reads.
I think for what it's worth that Collins has a lot more to say than Butcher does. And it makes sense that her style is more "script" or "screenwriter" than say Rowlings or Robin McKinely - because she came from script-writing. (Although she'd benefit from a lot more dialogue and a lot less summarizing.) I love the books, but I wish the writing was a notch better - because I think it's putting off some people out there who would eat these up for their soci-political themes alone. ( My mother for example wouldn't pick these up, but she'd read Harry Potter. Same deal with a good percentage of my flist. And that's due in a large part to "style.")
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-12-23 12:19 am (UTC)That's not necessarily true. (Former English Lit Major, here - who took numerous courses on noir and genre, with a literary father who spends time perusing used bookstores.)
The problem with mystery, noir, chick-lit, thriller, adventure, romance, westerns, science fiction and fantasy novels is a good percentage are written formulaic or "pulp". And there's a vast number published. The best seller's or prolific genre writers tend to follow a format guaranteed to sell, but you will on occassion get people who have merit.
How you can tell? By how long they've lasted in print or the test of time.
The quick fads are often out of print very quickly.
Examples of noir and mystery novels that were written by people who mastered the craft include:
Edgar Allen Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue
Dashielle Hammett's The Thin Man
Patricia (forget her last name) - Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley
Agatha Christie's Curtain and Murder on the Orient Express
Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep
Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn
And in sci-fantasy and horror?
Philip K. Dick's - The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Octavia Butler's Kindred
Ursula Le Quinn's The Left Hand of Darkness
Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and The Lottery
Butcher's a fun writer, but he's not quite in the same class.
Don't get me wrong, I love his books. But they are like David Baldacci,John Grisham, Crichton, John Jakes, and Janet Evanoich...fun reads.
I think for what it's worth that Collins has a lot more to say than Butcher does. And it makes sense that her style is more "script" or "screenwriter" than say Rowlings or Robin McKinely - because she came from script-writing. (Although she'd benefit from a lot more dialogue and a lot less summarizing.) I love the books, but I wish the writing was a notch better - because I think it's putting off some people out there who would eat these up for their soci-political themes alone. ( My mother for example wouldn't pick these up, but she'd read Harry Potter. Same deal with a good percentage of my flist. And that's due in a large part to "style.")