Elmore Leonard

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Elmore Leonard (2011)

Elmore John Leonard junior (born October 11, 1925 in New Orleans , Louisiana , † August 20, 2013 in Bloomfield Hills near Detroit , Michigan ) was an American writer who was first known through his westerns and later mainly through his crime novels as well became known through the film adaptations of his books.

life and career

Childhood and youth

Elmore Leonard began writing at the age of ten. Inspired by Erich Maria Remarque's novel Nothing New in the West , he wrote a play based on it. In the years that followed, he wrote short stories from time to time, a few of which appeared in a school newspaper. After graduating from high school in 1943, he joined the Navy and served in the South Pacific during World War II . He began studying at the University of Detroit in 1946 and graduated in 1950 with an MA in English and Philosophy. During his studies he took part in several writing competitions. While still a student he started working for an advertising agency.

Western (1951-1969)

Since he was very fond of watching western films and this type of literature was very popular in the United States in the 1950s , he began writing Wild West stories alongside his work. 1951 appeared in Argosy magazine, a first western story under the title Trail of the Apache . Leonard published his first Wild West novel under the title "The Bounty Hunters" in 1953 by Houghton Mifflin . Numerous short stories and five novels were published by 1961. His stories mostly take place in Arizona and New Mexico, in which he also gives a voice to outsiders such as Apaches and Mexicans based there. Already in his westerns he develops his acting characters through language, in that each person is characterized by his own way of expression. His anti-Western Hombre , published in 1961 , about a white man who grew up with the Apaches, was named one of the best westerns of all time by the Western Writers of America , and the sale of the film rights enabled Leonard to quit his advertising job and live as a freelance Writer .

Mysteries (1969-2013)

As in film, Western literature also experienced a crisis in the 1960s. Leonard, who had previously sold the rights to some of his texts to Hollywood, therefore worked as a freelance writer for advertising films and brochures during this time and also wrote film scenarios for school films for the Encyclopædia Britannica . In 1969 his first detective novel, The Big Bounce , was published, which was followed by 37 more until his death, so that, together with the westerns, he had 45 book publications. He himself speaks of crime stories in his detective novels, because he is more concerned with the people and milieus portrayed than with the usual investigation of a crime in a classic detective novel .

After he published at least one detective novel annually since 1974, he received more attention from American literary criticism in the 1980s , especially after a portrait of him published in 1983 in the New York Times . The author experienced his commercial breakthrough in 1985 when he was able to place himself on the New York Times bestseller list for a total of 16 weeks with the Atlantic City casino story "Glitz" and also achieved this bestseller status with his following books.

Pabel Verlag and Heyne Verlag have already translated his westerns into German . In 1973 Rowohlt Verlag published the first Leonard crime thriller under the title “Black Schnaps and Blue Beans” (Original: The Moonshine War) in German translation. In addition to the publishing house based in Reinbek at the time , many of his detective novels were later published in German by Heyne and Goldmann publishers. His last book publications were then published in German by Eichborn and Suhrkamp . Apart from 2 books from the historical so-called Carl Webster series, all of Elmore Leonard's crime novels were translated into German during his lifetime.

Film adaptations

Due to its dialogue - and scenic style, were produced based on templates of the author almost 30 films, with quite a few of his Western, among others, with Glenn Ford , Paul Newman , Burt Lancaster , Clint Eastwood and the late Western with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe filmed were.

His crime novels have also been used as models for films with well-known actors such as Charles Bronson , Robert Mitchum , Roy Scheider , Burt Reynolds or Rock Hudson (in his last film) since the 1970s . The implementation of the Hollywood gangster Chili Palmer with John Travolta in Snap Shorty and the bank robber story Out of Sight with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez were great successes . The film adaptation Jackie Brown , based on a Leonard story by Quentin Tarantino , was also rated very positively by critics and audiences , although the director's work is generally influenced by Elmore Leonard. The series Justified, based on his last fictional character Raylan Givens, was also a success with 6 seasons produced. Overall, however, it is considered difficult, as far as the German translations of his novels are concerned, to reproduce the author's special style in translations or films.

Private

Elmore Leonard, father of five, last lived with his wife in Oakland County near Detroit. In early August 2013, he suffered a stroke from which he did not recover. He died on August 20, 2013 at the age of 87.

On the work and writing style

Elmore Leonard's crime novels are quite untypical for the genre. Private detectives hardly ever play a role (rarely a minor supporting role) and the police, forensic technicians or other investigators only appear marginally - if at all. Unlike the Whodunit thrillers, Leonard is never concerned with gradually solving a puzzling case. And he never works with the stylistic devices of newer, bloodthirsty crime novels, serial killer stories, etc.

Instead, what distinguishes Leonard's crime novels is the precise description of different milieus, which are represented by precisely drawn individuals and their life stories. The different milieus, for example mafiosi , white industrial workers, African-Americans , prostitutes, models, film producers, Indians, bankers, speculators, petty criminals or soldiers, always come into contact with unfamiliar areas of society - which often leads to violence, but sometimes also to it surprising fraternities. The dynamism and tension of Leonard's plots always develop from such confrontations.

His crime novels are also characterized by the precise representation not only of the material culture (cars, home furnishings, food, hobbies, sport, music) of the milieus, but even more of the sociolects of the different people - an essential element that unfortunately in the German, mostly quite imprecise Translation is lost; Large parts of Leonard's novels consist of direct speech, which makes them so suitable for film.

Most of his crime thrillers take place in the United States, and here again mostly in his adopted home Detroit or in the state of Florida . Exceptions are the Middle East based “The Hunted” and “Djibouti”, “Pagan Babies” which is set in Rwanda and “Cubra Libre” whose action is set in Cuba at the end of the 19th century . The fine social structure of the settings - where can who move and how? - an integral part of the plot. Even in the more exotic locations, such as Israel or the Bahamas, the action is driven in a similar way by the narrowness of the place and the limited possibilities of movement.

Also socio-political issues play a role in some novels, the Vietnam War in "Mr. Majestyk ”, the contra war of Nicaragua in“ Bandits ”, in“ Freaky Deaky ”it is the hippie movement and, among other things, racism in the southern states of the USA is the subject of“ Tishomingo Blues ”. "Tishomingo Blues" and "Freaky Deaky" are also the author's favorite novels, they say.

Some English-speaking critics, with good reason, compare Leonard with Honoré de Balzac . Not only does he not see himself primarily as an artist, like him, but as a breadwinner and craftsman, he also succeeds in a not dissimilar way in creating a precise social chronicle of the USA in his books. Another similarity to Balzac's cyclical work is that not only locations, but also some people from earlier novels appear again and again. The main character of his first novel “The Big Bounce” Jack Ryan can also be found in other of his books from the 1970s, the bank robbers Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara in “The Switch” reappear as drug traffickers later in “Rum Punch”. In the 1990s , Ganove Chili Palmer is in two novels in Hollywood and in a series of three books (published 2005-2009), which are set in the 1930s and 1940s , Carl Webster is always active as a US Marshal . In “Road Dogs” three characters from earlier Leonard novels appear with Jack Foley (“Out of Sight”), Cundo Rey (“La Brava”) and Dawn Navarro ( “Riding the Rap” ). The title character of his last novel Raylan Givens is also used as US Marshal in two other of his earlier novels.

Works

Novels

  • 1953: The Bounty Hunters [Western]
  • 1954: The Law at Randado [Western]
  • 1956: Escape from Five Shadows [Western]
  • 1959: Last Stand at Saber River [Western]
  • 1961: Hombre [Western]
  • 1969: The Big Bounce
    • A bad exit , German by Peter Pfaffinger, Munich: Heyne 1991. ISBN 3-453-05275-7
    • also as: The Big Bounce , same translation revised by Markus Naegele, Munich: Heyne 2004. ISBN 3-453-87321-1
  • 1969: The Moonshine War
    • Black schnapps and blue beans , German by Gisela Stege, Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt 1973. ISBN 3-499-42289-1
  • 1970: Valdez is Coming [Western]
    • Valdez , German by Alfred Dunkel, Munich: Heyne 1971
  • 1972: Forty Lashes Less One [Western]
    • Die Zwei aus dem Teufelsloch , German by Matthias Kallmuth, Rastatt: Pabel 1976
  • 1974: Mr. Majestyk
  • 1974: Fifty-Two pickup
  • 1976: Swag
  • 1977: Unknown Man No. 89
    • No. 89 - unknown , German by Wolfgang Wiegand, Munich, Zurich: Droemer Knaur 1980. ISBN 3-426-04911-2
    • New translation: No. 89 - unknown , German by Jochen Stremmel, Munich: Goldmann 1992. ISBN 3-442-05192-4
  • 1977: The Hunted
  • 1978: The Switch
    • Who has now put whom on the cross? , German by Michael K. Georgi, Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt 1981. ISBN 3-499-42558-0
  • 1979: Gunsights [Western]
  • 1980: City Primeval - High Noon in Detroit
    • High Noon in Detroit , German by Gisela Stege, Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt 1983. ISBN 3-499-42623-4
    • also as a decision in Detroit , same translation, Munich: Goldmann 1991. ISBN 3-442-05165-7
  • 1980: Gold Coast
  • 1981: Split Images
  • 1982: Cat Chaser
  • 1983: Stick
  • 1983: LaBrava
  • 1985: Glitz
  • 1987: Bandits
    • Bandits , German by Klaus Kamberger, Vienna, Darmstadt: Zsolnay 1988. ISBN 3-552-04001-3
  • 1987: Touch
  • 1988: Freaky Deaky
  • 1989: Killshot
    • Profession: Killer , German by Peter Pfaffinger, Munich: Heyne 1990. ISBN 3-453-04534-3
    • also as killshot , same translation revised by Jochen Stremmel, Munich: Heyne 2007. ISBN 3-453-50032-6
  • 1990: Get Shorty
  • 1991: Maximum Bob
  • 1992: Rum Punch
  • 1993: Pronto
  • 1995: Riding the Rap
  • 1996 Naked Came the Manatee ( chain novel with Dave Barry , Les Standiford, Paul Levine, Edna Buchanan , James W. Hall, Carolina Hospital, Evelyn Mayerson, Tananarive Due, Brian Antoni, Vicki Hendricks, John Dufresne and Carl Hiaasen )
  • 1996: Out of Sight
  • 1998: Tonto Woman [short stories]
  • 1998: Cuba Libre
  • 1999: Be Cool
  • 2000: Pagan Babies
  • 2002: Tishomingo Blues
  • 2002: When the Women Come Out to Dance [short stories]
  • 2003: A Coyote's in the House! [Children's book]
  • 2004: Mr. Paradise
  • 2004: The Complete Western Stories [stories]
  • 2005: The Hot Kid
  • 2006: Comfort to the Enemy [serial]
  • 2007: Up in Honey's Room
  • 2007: Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing [Essay],
  • 2009: Road Dogs
    • Road Dogs , German by Conny Lösch and Kirsten Riesselmann, Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn 2010. ISBN 978-3-8218-6119-7
  • 2010: Djibouti
  • 2012: Raylan
  • 2015: Charlie Martz and Other Stories - The Unpublished Stories [stories]

Scripts

  • 1970: Whiskey brutal / also: The Whiskey War (The Moonshine War)
  • 1972: Sinola (Joe Kidd)
  • 1974: I am the law (Mr. Majestyk)
  • 1980: High Noon Part II: The Return of Will Kane
  • 1984: The Ambassador (denied)
  • 1985: They called him Stick ( Stick)
  • 1986: 52 pick-ups
  • 1987: Desperado (TV movie)
  • 1987: The Rosary Murders
  • 1988: Desperado: Die Rache (TV film / The Return of Desperado - Leonard acts as `Creator´)
  • 1988: Desperado: Ritt in die Hölle (TV movie / Desperado: Avalanche at Devil's Ridge - Leonard acts as `Creator´)
  • 1989: Desperado: War of the Outlaws (TV film / Desperado: The Outlaw Wars - Leonard acts as the `Creator´)
  • 1989: Desperado: Land without Law (TV film / Desperado: Badlands Justice - Leonard acts as the `Creator´)
  • 1989: Hexenkessel Miami (Cat Chaser)

Film adaptations

Awards

literature

  • David Geherin: Elmore Leonard , Continuum Books, New York 1989. ISBN 0-8264-0420-0
  • Paul Challen: Get Dutch! A Biography of Elmore Leonard ; ECW Press, Toronto 2000. ISBN 1-55022-422-0
  • Charles J. Rzepak: Being Cool. The Work of Elmore Leonard , Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2013. ISBN 978-1-4214-1015-9
  • Frank Göhre / Alf Mayer: King of Cool. The Elmore Leonard Story , Culturbooks, Berlin 2019. ISBN 978-3-95988-104-3

media

  • Elmore Leonard's Criminal Record. Documentation by the BBC , Home Vision Entertainment, s. l. 1991 (1 video cassette, VHS)

Web links

Commons : Elmore Leonard  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In Memoriam: Elmore Leonard - 1925-2013 at bigshinyrobot.com, accessed August 20, 2013
  2. ↑ Legendary Hollywood Writer Dead at 87 at tmz.com, accessed August 20, 2013
  3. ^ Alison Flood: Western Writers honor Elmore Leonard. The Guardian , February 12, 2009, accessed November 7, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Nathan Ward: Elmore Leonards gritty westerns. Crimereads.com, May 16, 2018, accessed November 7, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Herbert Mitgang: Novelist discovered after 23 books. The New York Times, October 29, 1983, accessed November 11, 2018 .
  6. ^ Joan Acocella: The Elmore Leonard Story. The New York Review of Books , September 24, 2015, accessed November 11, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Horst Eckert : Grab Dutch. Die Welt , April 13, 2002, accessed November 24, 2018 .
  8. ↑ "Best crime novelist of all time": Elmore Leonard is dead. Der Spiegel , August 20, 2013, accessed on August 21, 2013 .
  9. ↑ Alf Mayer: An obituary for Elmore Leonard. Culturmag, August 24, 2013, accessed November 11, 2018 .
  10. ^ New York Times , July 16, 2001
  11. ↑ year of the award ceremony; the IACW / NA records the year the book was published
  12. ↑ India and Indians in FAZ of November 16, 2012, page 34
personal data
SURNAME Leonard, Elmore
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leonard, Elmore John Jr.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH New Orleans , Louisiana , United States
DATE OF DEATH August 20, 2013
Place of death Bloomfield Hills , Michigan , United States