Ross Macdonald, Redivivus?

Ross Macdonald, the author of eighteen Lew Archer novels in the 1950s through the 1970s, seems to be undergoing a revival of interest. After a definitive biography appeared in 1999, the Library of America, a sure benchmark of literary recognition, released in 2015 the first of three volumes devoted...

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Main Author: Robert Lance Snyder
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Association for American Studies 2022-07-01
Series:European Journal of American Studies
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/18345
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author Robert Lance Snyder
author_facet Robert Lance Snyder
author_sort Robert Lance Snyder
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description Ross Macdonald, the author of eighteen Lew Archer novels in the 1950s through the 1970s, seems to be undergoing a revival of interest. After a definitive biography appeared in 1999, the Library of America, a sure benchmark of literary recognition, released in 2015 the first of three volumes devoted to his fiction; the same year saw the publication of his letters to and from Eudora Welty; and in 2016 Fantagraphics Books issued Macdonald’s marathon interviews with Paul Nelson. During his lifetime this author of detective fiction had both ardent champions and occasional detractors, but an examination of The Doomsters (1958), The Galton Case (1959), The Far Side of the Dollar (1965), and The Goodbye Look (1969) reinforces the judgment of Bernard A. Schopen, a scholar writing four years before Macdonald’s death, that his work “fully deserves evaluation as literature” and “purposeful art,” not least because of his trenchant critique of the American Dream.
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spelling doaj-art-cf4ce72d95224ad4bcab54033b88047d2025-01-06T09:08:27ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362022-07-0117210.4000/ejas.18345Ross Macdonald, Redivivus?Robert Lance SnyderRoss Macdonald, the author of eighteen Lew Archer novels in the 1950s through the 1970s, seems to be undergoing a revival of interest. After a definitive biography appeared in 1999, the Library of America, a sure benchmark of literary recognition, released in 2015 the first of three volumes devoted to his fiction; the same year saw the publication of his letters to and from Eudora Welty; and in 2016 Fantagraphics Books issued Macdonald’s marathon interviews with Paul Nelson. During his lifetime this author of detective fiction had both ardent champions and occasional detractors, but an examination of The Doomsters (1958), The Galton Case (1959), The Far Side of the Dollar (1965), and The Goodbye Look (1969) reinforces the judgment of Bernard A. Schopen, a scholar writing four years before Macdonald’s death, that his work “fully deserves evaluation as literature” and “purposeful art,” not least because of his trenchant critique of the American Dream.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/18345American Dreamdetective fictionRoss Macdonaldauthorial receptionmorality
spellingShingle Robert Lance Snyder
Ross Macdonald, Redivivus?
European Journal of American Studies
American Dream
detective fiction
Ross Macdonald
authorial reception
morality
title Ross Macdonald, Redivivus?
title_full Ross Macdonald, Redivivus?
title_fullStr Ross Macdonald, Redivivus?
title_full_unstemmed Ross Macdonald, Redivivus?
title_short Ross Macdonald, Redivivus?
title_sort ross macdonald redivivus
topic American Dream
detective fiction
Ross Macdonald
authorial reception
morality
url https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/18345
work_keys_str_mv AT robertlancesnyder rossmacdonaldredivivus