Literary Appreciation in Passing

When Mark interviewed Dan Rhodes for The Elegant Variation, Rhodes mentioned he was working on an essay about Patrick Hamilton for the Guardian. Whoomp, there it is! Certainly makes me want to track down The Midnight Bell...and I hadn't even realized the same man wrote Rope and Gaslight. But it appears that just in time for his centennial, Hamilton's completely out of print...

Meanwhile, Christopher Hitchens appraises John Buchan, who was inventing the modern thriller around the same time Hamilton was doing his best work. (Hitchcock's a link between the two, having adapted The 39 Steps as well as Rope.) This Atlantic essay balances Hitchens' youthful enthusiasm for the ripping yarns with a modern recognition of the more unsavory qualities, like the persistent anti-Semitism.