Leonard:In 1957, I borrowed a book from a friend calledThe Splendid Little War . It was a picture book, a coffee-table book of photographs of the Spanish-American War - photographs of the . It was a picture book, a coffee-table book of photographs of the Spanish-American War - photographs of theMaine , before and after; photographs of the troops on San Juan Hill; newspaper headlines leading up to the war; a lot of shots of Havana. I was writing Westerns at the time, and I thought, I could drop a cowboy into this place and get away with it. But I didn"t. A couple of years ago, I was trying to think of a sequel to , before and after; photographs of the troops on San Juan Hill; newspaper headlines leading up to the war; a lot of shots of Havana. I was writing Westerns at the time, and I thought, I could drop a cowboy into this place and get away with it. But I didn"t. A couple of years ago, I was trying to think of a sequel toGet Shorty . And I was trying to work Chili Palmer into the dress business. I don"t know why except that I love runway shows. I gave up on that. And I saw that book again, . And I was trying to work Chili Palmer into the dress business. I don"t know why except that I love runway shows. I gave up on that. And I saw that book again,The Splendid Little War , because I hadn"t returned it to my friend in "57. And I thought, "I"m going to do that." Yeah, the time has come. So, I did. , because I hadn"t returned it to my friend in "57. And I thought, "I"m going to do that." Yeah, the time has come. So, I did.
Amis:In a famous essay, Tom Wolfe said that the writers were missing all the real stories that were out there. And that they spent too much time searching for inspiration and should spend ninety-five percent of their time sweating over research. The result was a tremendously readable book,The Bonfire of the Vanities . Now you, sir, have a full-time researcher. . Now you, sir, have a full-time researcher.
Leonard:Yes, Gregg Sutter. He can answer any of your questions that I don"t know.
Amis:Were you inspired by the research he put into this book?
Leonard:He got me everything I needed to know. I asked him to see if he could find out how much it cost to transport horses from Arizona to East Texas and then to Havana. And he did. He found a cattle company that had been in business over 100 years ago and was shipping cattle then. He found an old ledger book and copied it and faxed it to me.
Amis:Among the differences from your earlier books, this book is more discursive, less dialogue-driven and, till the end, less action-driven. Toward the end, you get a familiar Leonard scenario where there"s a chunk of money sitting around, and various people are after it and you"re pretty confident that it"s going to go to the least-undeserving people present. And it"s not hard-bitten; it"s a much more romantic book than we"re used to from you. Could your Westerns have had such romance?
Leonard:No. In my Westerns there was little romance except inValdez Is Coming , which is my favorite of the Westerns. No, I just wanted to make this a romantic adventure story. , which is my favorite of the Westerns. No, I just wanted to make this a romantic adventure story.
Amis:And there"s a kind of political romanticism, too. You"ve always sided with the underdog, imaginatively; one can sense that. And who could be more of an underdog than a criminal? And your criminals have always been rather implausibly likable and gentle creatures. What is your view about crime in America?
Leonard:I don"t have a view about crime in America. There isn"t anything I can say that would be interesting at all. When I"m fashioning my bad guys, though (and sometimes a good guy has had a criminal past and then he can go either way; to me, he"s the best kind of character to have), I don"t think of them as bad guys. I just think of them as, for the most part, normal people who get up in the morning and they wonder what they"re going to have for breakfast, and they sneeze, and they wonder if they should call their mother, and then they rob a bank. Because that"s the way they are. Except for real hard-core guys.
Amis:The really bad guys.
Leonard:Yeah, the really bad guys....
Amis:Before we end, I"d just like to ask you about why you keep writing. I just read my father"s collected letters, which are going to be published in a year or two. It was with some dread that I realized that the writer"s life never pauses. You can never sit back and rest on what you"ve done. You are driven on remorselessly by something, whether it"s dedication or desire to defeat time. What is it that drives you? Is it just pure enjoyment that makes you settle down every morning to carry out this other life that you live?
Leonard:It"s the most satisfying thing I can imagine doing. To write that scene and then read it and it works. I love the sound of it. There"s nothing better than that. The notoriety that comes later doesn"t compare to the doing of it. I"ve been doing it for almost forty-seven years, and I"m still trying to make it better. Even though I know my limitations; I know what I can"t do. I know that if I tried to write, say, as an omniscient author, it would be so mediocre.You can do more forms of writing than I can, including essays. My essay would sound, at best, like a college paper. can do more forms of writing than I can, including essays. My essay would sound, at best, like a college paper.
Amis:Well, why isn"t there a Martin Amis Day? Because January 16, 1998, was Elmore Leonard Day in the state of Michigan, and it seems that here, in Los Angeles, it"s been Elmore Leonard Day for the last decade. [Laughter]
[Applause]
Editor"s note:Martin Amis is the author of many novels - including Money: A Suicide Note; London Fields; and Night Train - and many works of nonfiction, including a collection of essays and criticism, The War Against Cliche, in which may be found other interesting observations on the work of Elmore Leonard.
About the Author.
Elmore Leonardhas written more than three dozen books during his highly successful writing career, including the national bestsellersTishomingo Blues , ,Pagan Babies , and , andBe Cool . Many of his novels have been made into movies, including . Many of his novels have been made into movies, includingGet Shorty , ,Out of Sight , ,Valdez Is Coming , and , andRum Punch (as Quentin Tarantino"s (as Quentin Tarantino"sJackie Brown ). He has been named Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America and lives in Bloomfield Village, Michigan, with his wife. ). He has been named Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America and lives in Bloomfield Village, Michigan, with his wife.
Books by Elmore Leonard
The Bounty Hunters The Law at Randado Escape from Five Shadows Last Stand at Saber River Hombre The Big Bounce The Moonshine War Valdez Is Coming Forty Lashes Less One Mr. Majestyk 52 Pickup Swag Unknown Man #89 The Hunted The Switch Gunsights Gold Coast City Primeval Split Images Cat Chaster Stick LaBrava Glitz Bandits Touch Freaky Deaky Killshot Get Shorty Maximum Bob Rum Punch p.r.o.nto Riding the Rap Out of Sight Cuba Libre The Tonto Woman and Other Western Stories Be Cool Pagan Babies Tishomingo Blues