LEARNING FROM THE MASTER III: James Ellroy.

1. “[…] it’s a classic case of mankind profiting from tragedy. You like that? It sounds like a definition of literature in a nutshell”.

2. “Entertaining the reader stands as a bottom line. Beyond that, I want to create a verisimilitude that will give my readers the feeling of being uprooted from their daily lives and thrust into the heart of an obsession. My responsibility is to combine the natural, raw power of the crime novel form with my own narrative gifts to build an obsession so compelling that the reader will willingly move with its flow –regardless of where it takes him”.

3. “I tihink that cultivating a literary vision entails developing an affection for things the way they are. Write it down the way it is, reach into your own soul for whatever it takes to provide illumination, and give it to the reader. Maybe your vision will inspire compassion, maybe it won’t. The important thing is to look at things the way they are and not to flinch, then look at yourself the way you are and not to flinch. Only the reader should flinch –but only momentarily. You have to compel him to need to know the way you need to know”.

4. “Being mellow is okay, if you aspire to becoming a piece of cheese. The trouble with being a piece of cheese is that someone is likely to spread you on a cracker and eat you”.

ESPECIAL 5º ANIVERSARIO. Hollywood Nocturnes - James Ellroy

DIAL AXMINSTER 6-400

Ellis Loew rapped on the pebbled glass door that separated LAPD Warrants from the Office of the District Attorney. Davis Evans, dozing in his chair, muttered "Mother dog." I said, "That's his college-ring knock. It's a personal favor or a reprimand."

Davis nodded and got to his feet slowly, befitting a man with twenty years and two days on the job--and an ironclad civil-service pension as soon as he said the words, "Fuck you, Ellis. I retire." He smoothed his plaid shirt, adjusted the knot in his Hawaiian tie, hitched up the waistband of his shiny black pants, and patted the lapels of the camel's hair jacket he stole from a Negro pimp at the Lincoln Heights drunk tank. "That boy wants a favor, he gonna pay like a mother dog."

 "Blanchard! Evans! I'm waiting!"

We walked into the Deputy D.A.'s office and found him smiling, which meant that he was either practicing for the press or getting ready to kiss some ass. Davis nudged me as we took seats, then said, "Hey, Mr. Loew. What did the leper say to the prostitute?"

Loew's smile stayed glued on; it was obviously a big favor he wanted. "I don't know, Sergeant. What?"

"Keep the tip. Ain't that a mother dog?"

TENGO UNA CITA. RAYMOND CHANDLER (1888-1959)

El boletín de Today in Literature me informa de que tal día como hoy, hace 54 años, se publicaba The Long Goodbye, la novela de Raymond Chandler. El artículo conmemorativo se abre con una cita del papá de Philip Marlowe que merece la pena reproducir aquí y con la que tendremos que conformarnos en tanto llega -que llegará- un especial dedicado al maestro de la Serie Negra:

"Yes, I am exactly like the characters in my books.... I am thirty-eight years old and have been for the last twenty years. I do not regard myself as a dead shot, but I am a pretty dangerous man with a wet towel..."

- ANTES EN TENGO UNA CITA.