"The Scarf" by Robert Bloch (Avon, 1947)
Ed here: Like many, many people I miss my daily fix of Pulp Serenad. Here's a Golden Oldie.
Cullen Gallagher:
Most famous for writing the original
novel of Psycho, which Alfred Hitchcock based his movie on, Robert Bloch
had a writing career that spanned not only nearly his whole life, but also the
20th century. Born in 1917 in Chicago, IL, Bloch sold his first short story to
Weird Tales in 1934 - when he was just seventeen years old! Before his death in
1994, Bloch published twenty-five novels and hundreds of short stories that
ranged from horror to mystery to science-fiction, as well many other works for
television, radio, movies.
His first novel, The Scarf
(Avon #494) was published in 1947. It tells the story of a writer, Daniel
Morley, who uses real women as models for his characters. But as soon as he is
done writing the story, he is compelled to murder them, and always the same
way: with the maroon scarf he has had since childhood. We start in Minneapolis
and follow him and his trail of dead bodies to Chicago, New York, and finally
Hollywood, where his hit novel is going to be turned into a movie, and where his
self-control may have reached its limit.
Bloch uses a first-person narration
that puts us not only in the mind of Daniel, but also in his hands as he crafts
his stories and wraps the scarf around the necks of his victims. In many ways,
it reminded me of Jim Thompson’s psychological noir thrillers such as The
Killer Inside Me or Pop. 1280. A key difference is that Bloch is
interested in finding the root of the character’s psychology, whereas Thompson
doesn’t rationalize psychosis but instead confronts the reader face-to-face
with it. Both writers each have their distinct approach, and each of them is
disturbing in their own ways. Neither novelist will leave you feeling
comfortable and secure – but instead touches something deep and dark within
you, that little piece of security that makes you believe that the world will
be all right tomorrow. In Bloch and Thompson’s world – nothing is all right
tomorrow, and it never will be.
Bloch also seems to
have channeled his own frustrations as a writer into The Scarf. Daniel
Morley continually doubts his own creative talents, and is particularly
pessimistic about the financial and commercial possibilities as a writer
http://www.pulpserenade.com/2009/03/scarf-by-robert-bloch-avon-1947.html
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