Talk:Jim Thompson (writer)

This is an excellent article about a fascinating man. Its only real flaw is that it's not referenced and there are no inline citations. With some polishing and referencing this would easily be a Good Article. Jeffpw 08:50, 31 October 2006 (UTC)Reply

Editing the paragraph on Savage Night to reflect the information actually given in the book. There are no concrete references to the "writer" as a "Bible salesman" or the fact that he cuts up Bibles to put together books. It is clear, however, that he is a pulp fiction writer, much akin to Thompson himself, whose work is sold alongside pornography. Also removing the phrase "cunt farm" as it is NOT a quote from the book (the book is almost completely void of profanity), though it IS referred to as a "farm." Liontamarin 20:03, 12 July 2007 (UTC)Reply

Am I crazy or does this Jim Thompson not appear on the disambiguation page for Jim/James Thompson? I'd fix it myself but I don't really know how... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.90.155.36 (talk) 13:17, 6 June 2010 (UTC)Reply

The article says that Thompson had 2 or 3 children and sources differ. In Here and On Earth, it seems very clear that he an eldest daughter, a youngest son and a middle daughter. Could this issue be discussed more? It seems like some or all of his children could still be alive and therefore this issue could be definitively settled, including names of offspring.--Jrm2007 (talk) 04:56, 2 September 2010 (UTC)Reply

Someone more qualified than myself and more familiar with the system should verify to be sure, but the link to 'The Criminal' in the list of Thompson's novels is a link to an article about a British film. The article on the film says nothing about whether or not it is based on a Thompson novel and even if it were there is certainly no reason for a link to the movie in the list of novels. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.5.144.50 (talk) 23:20, 31 December 2010 (UTC) Bold textReply

It's ridiculous to pretend that Dashiell Hammett and others who came before him weren't also producing great writing, and honestly, Thompson was more derided and flat-out ignored than many other crime writers before his death. You don't have to make up for that now by deriding an entire genre, which has produced many brilliant writers, some of whom are arguably better than Thompson. I'm a fan of his, but I think that passage should be rewritten, or simply excised. He himself would have found it excessive, and rude to his fellow professionals.

Other crime writers who produced highly regarded literature, before, during and after Thompson's writing career:

Raymond Chandler--David Goodis--Chester Himes--Elmore Leonard--Charles Willeford--Donald E. Westlake

No need to list them on this page. These are just examples of other writers who transcended mere pulp fiction. The fact is, saying something as impossible to document as "Jim Thompson turned crime fiction into art and literature", when the father of modern American crime fiction, Hammett, did the same exact thing decades earlier, is the epitome of an unsourced statement--it's just an opinion, and a questionable one at that. It has no place in a Wikipedia article. I will wait a bit before editing. But this will not stand.