TT 276: Lawrence Block and Wes Anderson

two of the best release two of their best

Lawrence Block’s long-running collection of noir narratives starring Matt Scudder is universally considered to be one of the very best detective series of all time. Just two years ago I treated myself to a very enjoyable experience by re-reading the whole series in order.

Scudder has a lot of fans, and we have all lined up to buy Block’s latest, The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder. I would be the first to complain about living in an age where too many beloved franchises are grinding out unnecessary prequels and codas, but this is truly a worthwhile addition to the canon. Indeed, it feels like we are reading Block’s autobiography, not Scudder’s.

All of the Scudder novels are great, but I admit that the first four or five are where my heart truly lies: when Scudder was still a drunk, and when New York City seemed liked a smaller, slower, and more squalid town. In The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder we return to that early style for most of the book. Rarely has an origin story engendered this kind of pure joy.

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I’m pleased to report that I adored Asteroid City at the movie theater, and have kept thinking about the film since seeing it Wednesday. Thankfully, is getting great reviews. Perhaps not unlike Block’s Autobiography, Asteroid City is a partial summation of What Makes This Artist Tick.

My generation and peer group went all-in on Wes Anderson. I’d still cite The Royal Tenenbaums as not just my favorite Anderson but simply as an era-defining film.

If I ever write my own autobiography, I might spend a chapter detailing six pieces of pop culture from the last decade before the internet:

three movies

Pulp Fiction (1994, dir. Quentin Tarantino)
The Big Lebowski (1998, dir. Ethan and Joel Coen)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001, dir. Wes Anderson)

three albums

Radiohead, OK Computer (1997)
Björk, Homogenic (1997)
D'Angelo, Voodoo (2000)

The six in this basket are not just famous and influential in the culture at large, they are also all precisely calibrated expressions of a unique and charismatic viewpoint. Whatever these artists were trying to do, they got to it here. Perfect.

The six in this basket are also all quite literally part of my worldview. I don’t have any choice in the matter.

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Related links:

Vince Keenan has more on The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder; he also bats back the ball on Operation Fortune: Ruse De Guerre.

Glenn Kenny is someone to discuss both Lawrence Block and Wes Anderson with. In July, Glenn will lead an online course at Roundtable, “Gimme a Beat: Jazz and Rock Icons on the Big Screen.” Frankly, I wouldn’t trust most movie critics on the topic of jazz (there’s more room in rock), but Glenn will do a fabulous job.