tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post7887931246738558703..comments2024-03-25T11:29:25.356-04:00Comments on Existential Ennui: Peter Rabe, by Donald E. Westlake, in Murder off the Rack (Scarecrow Press, 1989)Nick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-65600241970357847802013-03-11T14:04:05.888-04:002013-03-11T14:04:05.888-04:00The plot thickens! But seriously, what writer in ...The plot thickens! But seriously, what writer in that genre isn't reading Graham Greene, and that work of 'entertainment' (as Greene called it) especially, because of its influence on noir literature, not to mention the movie with Alan Ladd. I never had any doubt, but multiple confirmation is pleasant to have, nonetheless. You've both noted, I'm sure, that what we're discussing here is not the anatomy of a killer, but his genealogy. Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00271250698430923736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-42492066013535069662013-03-11T13:02:47.999-04:002013-03-11T13:02:47.999-04:00Quickly butting in here, I can confirm that THIS G...Quickly butting in here, I can confirm that THIS GUN FOR HIRE is referenced in the "Peter Rabe" essay too; Westlake compares both Loma, a hitman in AGREEMENT TO KILL, and another character, Mound, from KILL THE BOSS GOODBYE, to Raven.Nick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-75473790628992106092013-03-11T12:56:32.963-04:002013-03-11T12:56:32.963-04:00Haven't read the essay yet, Ethan--Westlake re...Haven't read the essay yet, Ethan--Westlake referenced "This Gun for Hire" (he used the American title) in the third of his Sam Holt novels. Once I read Greene's novel, I knew that Parker was, to some extent, a romanticized (and vastly more effective) Raven--see, Greene was a moralist, but not much of a romantic--Stark reverses that polarity. The stories of TGFH and The Hunter unfold along quite similar lines, but to much different effect. <br /><br />As to the diagnosis, Greene provides that, you might say, when he compares Raven to a mangy wolf in a cage. Remove the mange (and the harelip), add a few pounds of muscle, give him a better diet, a whole lot more self-understanding and control, and you have Parker. Parker is what Raven wishes he could be. And even so, he remains an enigma, which I agree is a primary source of his lingering appeal. And perhaps the reason they still haven't made a movie that gets him even halfway right. Raven's arguably had better luck there, even though they always edit out the harelip. And the British accent. <br /><br />But Nick's got me really curious to read more Rabe (just one early book so far, they're not so easy to find), to see how much Parker owes to him as well. And honestly, just for his own sake. I'm running out of Westlakes to read. :)<br /><br />Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00271250698430923736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-7296655576238012612013-03-11T12:16:46.850-04:002013-03-11T12:16:46.850-04:00I'm looking forward to your thoughts on Rabe, ...I'm looking forward to your thoughts on Rabe, Nick. And, Chris, isn't it in this very Westlake essay that he talks about Raven from THIS GUN FOR HIRE? Thanks for the jog, I really need to look at that one again. Very good call about it being an influence.<br /><br />Let's give it a few more years, but I suspect that first editions of Richard Stark will surpass first editions of THIS GUN FOR HIRE in value eventually!<br /><br />I read all the Rabes that Westlake really loved. As good as his favorite KILL THE BOSS GOODBYE is, I prefer THE BOX and ANATOMY OF A KILLER. But I think my number one is the marvelously sardonic MURDER ME FOR NICKELS. <br /><br />For me, THIS GUN FOR HIRE (or other "crime" Greenes) or KILL THE BOSS GOODBYE and ANATOMY OF A KILLER are a little dated in their emphasis on mental illness, or at least (in Raven's case) "the life of the mind." <br /><br />Perhaps one of the reasons Parker keeps gaining new fans is how he remains perpetually undiagnosed and unanalyzed. Looking at THE JUGGER recently (after an Existential Ennui prompt), the long sequence of mental games played between the cop and the jugger seemed a little dated, whereas all the scenes with practical Parker were as fresh as tomorrow.<br /><br />Fun to think about Greene, Rabe, and Westlake -- I'm going to crack open some of those books tonight.Ethan Iversonhttp://dothemath.typepad.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-18735561602214933632013-03-11T11:29:16.205-04:002013-03-11T11:29:16.205-04:00I still haven't read the Daniel Port books, so...I still haven't read the Daniel Port books, so I can't opine on what kind of influence (if any) they had on Parker. But in general, I'd say that another author's failed experiment can be as useful to a writer as a successful one, if not more. Westlake was presumably reading everything Rabe produced, learning from him in both a positive and negative way--in other words, he's asking himself two questions--"How can I be this good?", and "How can I be even better?" And I don't think it can be argued that the Parkers haven't held up much better than the Ports (when were the latter last reprinted?). So he was learning from Rabe how to craft a better crime novel, but also avoiding traps he felt Rabe had stepped into. Still and all, he would have noticed that Rabe had no trouble getting a bunch of books about a somewhat amoral violent criminal protagonist published--Ripley didn't get a sequel until 1970, Earl Drake until 1968. So that in itself would have been an influence on a writer who was, as we know, still slaving away in the porn pits at the time.<br /><br />I continue to think the single book most influential on the creation of Parker was "A Gun for Sale", aka "This Gun for Hire", by Graham Greene. And I now know for a fact that Westlake was extremely familiar with that book. And for all I know, was cocky enough to think he'd improved on that as well, though the literary establishment would probably disagree. Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00271250698430923736noreply@blogger.com