tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post653223763020808428..comments2024-03-28T10:31:55.774-07:00Comments on The Passing Tramp: Far Cry Man: The Far Cry (1951), by Fredric BrownThe Passing Tramphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-30976831186472652832013-07-14T11:20:41.059-07:002013-07-14T11:20:41.059-07:00Thanks for posting, Jack, and visiting the blog. ...Thanks for posting, Jack, and visiting the blog. I enjoyed your analysis of Far Cry in your book.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-60273796163581087252013-07-14T11:19:42.568-07:002013-07-14T11:19:42.568-07:00Thanks for the comment, Michael.
It is an interes...Thanks for the comment, Michael.<br /><br />It is an interesting question, why some authors suddenly get the big embrace and others don't. Robert Polito edits the crime fiction series for Library of America, I believe, and must be aware of Brown, so who knows what his thinking is. Or why black Lizard isn't publishing any of his books anymore. Personally, I find Brown more interesting than Jim Thompson, but with Thompson you unrelievedly hit the lower depths and maybe that is what people like best. Though it sounds like Madball gets down there as well!<br /><br />I need to read some of Brown's science fiction.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-78108423674927747562013-07-13T21:02:04.282-07:002013-07-13T21:02:04.282-07:00If you're planning on reading THE SCREAMING MI...If you're planning on reading THE SCREAMING MIMI, I recommend NOT viewing the film version first. This book is as much about fine writing as it is plotting and characterization, and the film can't convey that. It's an okay film, but a great book. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-73478801639245134972013-07-13T08:02:21.700-07:002013-07-13T08:02:21.700-07:00I also am a big fan of The Far Cry. I will join th...I also am a big fan of The Far Cry. I will join the chorus praising The Screaming Mimi. Another great Brown book to look for is The Wench is Dead, which does not get the attention it deserves.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-70703612848324225962013-07-12T20:49:36.986-07:002013-07-12T20:49:36.986-07:00"Cleverness can be ... a crime." That..."Cleverness can be ... a crime." That's perfect! That captures exactly the all-too-common highbrow lit-crit attitude that drives me nuts. It's linked, I think, to the "noble savage" fallacy—the assumption that less civilized folk are more authentic and, in some important way, just "deeper." It's nonsense, but it's a view that underlies a lot of cultural criticism. <br /><br />I've read just a couple Fredric Brown novels. "The Screaming Mimi" is a true humdinger of a book. "The Fabulous Clipjoint" is pretty good too. I might read "The Far Cry" someday, but I'm likely to read "Murder Can Be Fun" sooner.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-22871338553054959072013-07-12T14:03:59.676-07:002013-07-12T14:03:59.676-07:00Fredric Brown is one of my favourite authors and I...Fredric Brown is one of my favourite authors and I'm always surprised he is left off some 'Best' lists. For example, I asked Allan Guthrie why his '200 Noirs' left off Brown and he admitted that Brown was one of his 'gaps' due to their scarcity. So maybe the rarity of Fredric Brown's crime novels is what keeps his acclaim down.<br /><br />The Fredric Brown novels that stick out for me are MADBALL, one of his carny noirs, HERE COMES A CANDLE, a rather conventional crime story told in an unconventional way through different media format scripts, and THE LIGHTS IN THE SKY ARE STARS, a realistic and prescient space travel story set in the late 90s but written in the 50s.<br />Michael S. Chonghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15931750993951399562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-840524696958308852013-07-12T11:45:38.526-07:002013-07-12T11:45:38.526-07:00Hi everyone,
Added Screaming Mimi to my "som...Hi everyone,<br /><br />Added Screaming Mimi to my "some say" list, since three of you just mentioned it!<br /><br />Bill Pronzini discusses Knock Three-One-Two in 1001 Midnights and places it with Mimi and Far Cry, so that's one I certainly need to look at.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-3832026917261671322013-07-12T11:44:27.888-07:002013-07-12T11:44:27.888-07:00Noah,
I would have loved to have had some convers...Noah,<br /><br />I would have loved to have had some conversations with Brown--preferably before too much liquor had been drunk!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-27815210300654098212013-07-12T11:42:54.793-07:002013-07-12T11:42:54.793-07:00John,
interesting point with the Charlotte Armst...John, <br /><br />interesting point with the Charlotte Armstrong comparison. Earlier in Far Cry, Brown also addresses racial attitudes between the Anglo and Mexican-American population in the American Southwest. He also brings in homosexuality (this is not a apoiler) in Far Cry. His handling of these matters seems ahead of its time, especially of homosexuality, which so often in the 1950s was treated in a highly stereotyped and offensive fashion.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-85048482515589241442013-07-12T08:18:28.621-07:002013-07-12T08:18:28.621-07:00THE FAR CRY is my favorite, followed THE LIGHTS IN...THE FAR CRY is my favorite, followed THE LIGHTS IN THE SKY ARE STARS.Jerry Househttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-86084183389777071242013-07-12T07:59:48.788-07:002013-07-12T07:59:48.788-07:00THE LENIENT BEAST (another book with a Southwester...THE LENIENT BEAST (another book with a Southwestern seeting) has been cited as one of his best. I read it two months ago and wasn't very thrilled. I guess it was too subtle for me and I was expecting intensly dark noir. It's not intense at all, the book surprisingly is more like domestic suspense. The real focus of the story is on the personal life of the protagonist, a Mexican American cop, who many troubles include his neverending battles with his alcoholic wife and enduring racist taunts from his not so bright fellow police officers who resent him for being smart and honest. It was almost like a Charlotte Armstrong novel. The story revisits well worn territory and themes similar to other books I had read that I enjoyed a lot more like A GENTLE MURDERER. I tend to like Brown is his outre mode -- SCREAMING MIMI, NIGHT OF THE JABBERWOCK. You make a good case for FAR CRY. The plot sounds a lot more interesitng than what I encountered in THE LENIENT BEAST.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-37326023398342562112013-07-12T06:24:16.473-07:002013-07-12T06:24:16.473-07:00I've always had a personal fondness for Brown ...I've always had a personal fondness for Brown for an odd reason -- we were both trained as Linotype typesetters. (And I loved what I read about his habit of taking long bus journeys to get his thinking clear about his writing. I always feel mentally refreshed after four hours on a Greyhound.) I have to confess that my favourite Brown tends to vary according to what I've most recently read, and definitely includes his lighter work and his science fiction, but I seem to keep returning to THE SCREAMING MIMI. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-50199959265002184422013-07-11T23:56:17.539-07:002013-07-11T23:56:17.539-07:00Terrific post Curt and so glad to read you're ...Terrific post Curt and so glad to read you're a fan too. I'm probably more of a SCREAMING MIMI fan myself, but there are lots to choose from - LENIENT BEAST is pretty amazing and KNOCK THREE-ON-TWO is quite something. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com