tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post1134245172170900903..comments2024-03-28T10:31:55.774-07:00Comments on The Passing Tramp: Killing Cousins: A Review of Blood Relations: The Selected Letters of Ellery Queen, 1947-1950The Passing Tramphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-90644413517721890472015-11-03T09:49:38.448-08:002015-11-03T09:49:38.448-08:00well that's given me some titles to work on, t...well that's given me some titles to work on, thanks Curt.Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-44446974402092219992012-02-22T15:31:12.713-08:002012-02-22T15:31:12.713-08:00Sergio,
Thanks, I think you will find it very in...Sergio, <br /><br />Thanks, I think you will find it very interesting. As you say, Dannay was very "catholic" in his promotion of all types of mystery writing (he wrote all those prefaces to Hammett short story collections in the late 1940s and early 1950s, for example). I think a lot of the spleen vented at Chandler reflected their bitterness over Cat of Many Tails being rejected by the big magazines. And I have to admit I wasn't too crazy about The Little Sister either (nor was Anthony Boucher). And then Chandler could be hard on people too. Look how he blasted poor Ross Macdonald!<br /><br />What I learned from this was that Dannay and Lee had their dark moods and depressions just as much as Chandler. Something pretty common to artistic people in general, one could conjecture.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-73608692045145703832012-02-22T15:17:12.980-08:002012-02-22T15:17:12.980-08:00Thanks for the review Curt - I've gone right a...Thanks for the review Curt - I've gone right ahead and ordered it even though I suspect I will find some of the reading quite painful! I loved the 'Ellery Queen books and stories while growing up and yet there was clearly so much sadness and frustration in the cousins' collaboration - actually pains me to read such conservative views about Chandler for instance, especially when they (especially Dannay through EQMM) seemed first and foremost such cheerleaders for the plurality of the mystery as a genre. But context is everything and I really look forward to this volume - thanks again for giving us such a detailed look at this new work.<br /><br />SergioAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-75810795608822496282012-02-21T01:55:03.057-08:002012-02-21T01:55:03.057-08:00Pietro,
Interesting you mention Rufus King, I thi...Pietro,<br /><br />Interesting you mention Rufus King, I think you are right about him.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-72746280659301041722012-02-20T04:47:39.295-08:002012-02-20T04:47:39.295-08:00Ah, you noticed that too! Too long ago, when I rer...Ah, you noticed that too! Too long ago, when I reread the novel many years after, I realized the similarities with the plot of some of his later works. And then there's the sex that anticipates other novels later, here's a note gay, elsewhere there will be other characters still in relation to the sexual sphere. Indeed, a known gay sometimes you hear it in some novel of Rufus King, an author who would be the case because belonging more to explore the old guard,and now completely forgotten, incorrectly.Pietro De Palmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06051060020493340331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-45552983154570681242012-02-19T18:56:20.913-08:002012-02-19T18:56:20.913-08:00Pietro,
I think that's a very interesting ide...Pietro,<br /><br />I think that's a very interesting idea, that Dannay might have had an old plot he revived with Lee. I think that might be worth a blog post! I am rereading Stroke and am struck by the rather dark tone of the opening part. That, at least, seems more like their later work.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-86553893171469333792012-02-19T13:11:41.346-08:002012-02-19T13:11:41.346-08:00Mauro Boncompagni spoke to me very highly about th...Mauro Boncompagni spoke to me very highly about this book, so definitely I will buy it. But, I would like to know from you, if you believe something can emerge in the future, about the year 1958, the year of The Finishing Stroke. That novel has a curious story, not because Ellery solves an old case of the first thirty years, he previously had failed to solve, but because it seems as novel as those of the early thirties. I am always asked if the two cousins had actually conceived the plot in 1958, or if they had used previously sketched something that goes back several years earlier. It 's too dissimilar from the novels of those years. Just think 'if it was written in 1958 but thirty years before. You never had a suspicion?Pietro De Palmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06051060020493340331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-57959729621610159462012-02-18T04:08:18.905-08:002012-02-18T04:08:18.905-08:00Curt, insightful as always!
Patrick, Ten Days'...Curt, insightful as always!<br /><br />Patrick, Ten Days' Wonder, Cat of Many Tails and Origin of Evil definitely, but I would throw all the Wrightsville books in there as spoilers, because the novels build on each other to some degree. It would help in understanding the letters.Jeffrey Markshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08422459407138331707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-52711838235883980552012-02-17T06:41:18.089-08:002012-02-17T06:41:18.089-08:00Great review, Curt. And I agree with you about rea...Great review, Curt. And I agree with you about reading those three, which have to be among the best of Queen. As for the Goodrich, well I just ordered it from Amazon and can't wait to read it! Thanks!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-76352560625428420842012-02-17T03:46:06.232-08:002012-02-17T03:46:06.232-08:00Thanks for the question, Patrick.
Well, Ten Days&...Thanks for the question, Patrick.<br /><br />Well, Ten Days' Wonder, Cat of Many Tails and Origin of Evil are spoiled to pieces, so to speak. There's really in-depth discussion of the plotting of these novels. Calamity Town also is discussed, though not to the same extent.<br /><br />But people should read these anyway! At least three are considered at the top level of the Queen output. People interested in the history of the development of the GA detective novel should want to read them.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-52989199296346933462012-02-17T03:38:31.302-08:002012-02-17T03:38:31.302-08:00It sounds wonderful, Curt-- but which EQs should b...It sounds wonderful, Curt-- but which EQs should be read first before tackling these letters? (I have a hunch the cousins didn't care about spoilers...)Patrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01844617192737950378noreply@blogger.com