Tuesday, September 1, 2015

While reading a Stephen King essay in the New York Times (part 3)



Can a  Novelist Be Too Productive?  (The New York Times, 8/27/2015)
The same can be said of the prolific, mid-20th-century writer John D. MacDonald. His Travis McGee novels now seem embarrassingly dated, and many of his over 40 stand-alone novels are an indigestible mix of Ernest Hemingway and John O’Hara, but when MacDonald forgot about his literary heroes and wrote strictly for himself, he did striking work. The best of his novels, “The End of the Night” and “The Last One Left,” rise to the level of that shape-shifting beast we call American literature.

King might have a point here.  Out of the bibliographic records I viewed, only 2 of 50 copies were checked out.


MacDonald was a hugely popular author during the beginning of my public library career.

Carl Hiaasen begs to differ.  He remains a big fan.  (....fabulous books to read.)



On the other hand....



Related posts:
While reading a Stephen King essay in the New York Times (part 1).  (9/1/2015)
While reading a Stephen King essay in the New York Times (part 2)  (9/1/2015)

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