A prolific author, John D. MacDonald owes his fame largely to a character, that of Travis McGee - who in the course of twenty and twenty-one novels became a sort of alter ego of the author.
The man who said
The early bird who catches the worm works for someone who comes in late and owns the worm farm.
A beach bum, with a barge for a house and a Rolls Royce adapted to pickup-truck for a coach, McGee is a specialist in recoveries - no matter what you have lost, he will find again, and convince those who now have to give it back.
Confidentially.
No need to involve the police.
All this for fifty per cent of the recoverable amount, minus expenses.
Should it go wrong, the costs are on McGee.
. . .if X has something valuable and Y comes along and takes it away from him, and there is absolutely no way in the world X can ever get it back, then you come in and make a deal with X to get it back, and keep half . Then you just. . . live on that until it starts to run out.
Not exactly hard-boiled, not quite noir.
Reading Travis McGee thrillers is a lot of fun, a strong intellectual stimulation, but also a kind of crash course in street philosophy.
And something more.
There is, in the novels of MacDonald, a critical (but not necessarily cynical) view of changing America - the Playboy generation in the early novels gives way to the America of Beatlemania and counterculture, to finally move on to the confused '70s and give a passing glance at the sordid '80s.
America changes, but McGee does not change - because MacDonald does not change.
And the filter, therefore, remains the same - enabling comparisons and reflections that other more serious narrative cycles can not guarantee.
I like the Travis McGee novels.
I said that often.
I read them badly, in a dozen different formats.
I have the complete series in ebook format, onthe hard disk of my netbook, for moments of despair when I'm on the road.
I also saw (badly) the two films based on the work of MacDonald - both mediocre, for different reasons.
I look forward with some anxiety the next - to be released in 2011.
And in recent months I have often felt theneed to read them again, and properly.
Calmly.
In the original english.
In the order they were written.
It must have been moving house, moving to the country, with its more sedate pace, projects and activities more plastic, more nebulous.
I said it back somewhere - not too bad, living like Travis McGee, enjoying retirement a littleo at a time instead of breaking one's back for forty years and then have a lot of free time when you no longer have the physique to make something fun out of it.
Collecting a bit 'of literature on this subject - some article, some metatext.
And post on the subject.
One post for each novel.
Plus assorted reflections.
With ideas, thoughts, a bit 'of criticism, some link ...
Trying to understand how is it that in forty-six years this cycle of pulp fiction has never gone out of print, aand sold 33 million copies.
A fun project.
A course in street philosophy.
Perhaps a writing course.
Certainly a damn good way to pass the time between their day jobs.
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