Les Jones

A&E > Quickie James Ellroy Interview

in the NY Times via Kottke.

Do you think of yourself as a novelist or as a crime writer?

I am a master of fiction. I am also the greatest crime writer who ever lived. I am to the crime novel in specific what Tolstoy is to the Russian novel and what Beethoven is to music.

How do you know since you say you don’t read other books?

I just know. There is a line from a wonderful Thomas Lux poem: “You’re alone and you know a few things.” I just know that I am that good.

What about Raymond Chandler, who wrote so evocatively about Los Angeles lowlifes before you?

He is egregiously overrated.

Dashiell Hammett, whose name is synonymous with the adjective “hard-boiled”?

I think he’s tremendously great; I just think I am greater.

He doesn't lack for confidence. What's a good James Ellroy novel to start with?

P.S. - I've seen a couple of The Thin Man movies, but I had no idea they were based on a Dashiell Hammett novel. The movies run on AMC and TCM periodically and are worth watching.