There was a discussion on The Long-Legged Fly by James Sallis over at 4ma about a year or so ago. Here are some observations that I made while reading the book and posted to the group as well as some questions for consideration.
-The Long-Legged Fly was written in 1992; takes place in 1964, 1970, 1984 and 1990; and we are reading it in 2007. Even though it was never intended as such does it stand up as a post-Katrina tribute to the city of New Orleans?
-Detective Fiction, especially of the PI variety, has long since been described as an existential form. Does Griffin fit in with this tradition.
-The final case of the book, David’s disappearance, is unresolved by the end of the book. In PI fiction there is typically some form of case closure. What kind of reaction did the ending provoke. Was the loose thread enough to make you want to read the the next book.
-On page 21-22 when Griffin is in the bar talking to “Blackie” and Abdullah Abded some of the other patrons in the bar are mentioned. One of the mentioned patrons is a pimp in a yellow suit.
On page 36 it is a pimp in a yellow suit that is responsible for turning Corene Davis out.
Is it possible that Sallis gave us a glimpse of the guy before Griffin had even taken the case.
-The three missing women that Lew Griffin search for in LLF all have names that begin with “C”. Corene, Cordelia & Cherie.
-James Sallis is an absolute master at mirroring. He employs it subtly throughout the entire book and the entire series and there are loads of examples. Some of the above would qualify as examples and there are more if you care to look for them.
-The explanation is lengthy and would fall outside of the scope of just this one book but in many ways the two closing paragraphs of LLF are the key to unlocking a number of themes in the Lew Griffin series.
“And so, another book. But not about my Cajun this time. About someone I’ve names Lew Griffin, a man I know both very well and not at all. And I have only to end it now by writing: I went back into the house and wrote. It is midnight. The rain beats down at the windows.
It is not midnight. It is not raining.”
A further clue for those interested in digging deeper is that these words are not Sallis’ or Griffin’s:
“Then I went back into the house and wrote. It is midnight. The rain is beating on the windows. It was not midnight. It was not raining.”
– Samuel Beckett (Molloy)
-The first chapter is clearly not a part of the rest of the book. Based on Griffin’s later in life career change (first as a teacher then novelist) is it possible that the first chapter is actually an un-credited excerpt from one of Lew Griffin’s novels?
Later on in the book (in the beginning of chapter 5 of the 1990 section) we find the following quote: “The more I wrote about Boudleaux, the less I relied on imagination, using experiences and people of my own past, writing ever closer to my life.”
So with the above quote in mind and if the first chapter of LLF is an excerpt of one of Griffin’s novels then is it further possible that the events in LLF influenced it? Is the influence demonstrable? There is a repetition of the line “Didn’t touch the girl” and there are also the similarities of the names “Sambo” and “Samson” in both the excerpt and LLF.
Further still; is it possible that Lew Griffin is actually the author of The Long-Legged Fly?