Talk:Robert B. Parker

Stolen info?

Information in the bibliography is from http://www.spensarium.com/. --JerryFriedman

Did you get permission to use it? Or, rather, did whoever put it there get permission? -- कुक्कुरोवाच|Talk‽ 00:39, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I was the one who put it there, before remembering to log in. No, I didn't get permission. The same (I hope) information is widely available on the Web and elsewhere. Do we need permission? If so, I'll e-mail the editor of the page. --JerryFriedman

The short answer is "yes", though you're right, this sort of information is fairly generic. I mean, I wouldn't expect huge issues, but the guy does have a customary "all rights reserved" thing on his page, and Wikipedia does its best to observe the proprieties. -- कुक्कुरोवाच|Talk‽ 00:51, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I need to get some help about talk pages, since I suspect that's where we should continue this discussion. Do I just edit your talk page? --JerryFriedman 01:40, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Not mine. Follow the "talk" link next to my name and then click the "+" button at the top of the page to start a conversation. -- कुक्कुरोवाच|Talk‽ 02:46, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Curious as to correct URL to which you're referring; this one goes to ad. for electronics ??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Anne-ology (talk • contribs) 3 July 2007

The URL is correct, but went defunct circa 2005.

From the Internet Archive: Spensarium.com (circa August 2004)

—MJBurrage^(T•C) 04:11, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Deleted Playback

I deleted Playback from the bibliography since I'm not sure what it is, maybe a screenplay based on a Chandler novel. I added Joan Parker's middle initial since that's how she's listed at Amazon. --JerryFriedman 01:40, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Earned doctorate

Hmm. Do we really need to specify that the doctorate is earned? I mean, it's not as though when people see "doctorate" they think it's usually honorary. -- कुक्कुरोवाच|Talk‽ 22:50, 16 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Well, I do tend to think that a best-selling novelist's doctorate in literature is likely to be honorary. In my opinion, what the page could really use is a short bio that would explain this and other things naturally. And since I just found the articles at http://bullets-and-beer.com/Backgrou.htm, which look pretty reliable, I think I'm going to write one. --JerryFriedman 00:16, 28 Jul 2004 (UTC)

His doctorate is not honorary, it was earned at Boston University. He wrote a thesis regarding prior detective character models. http://www.bullets-and-beer.com --K. Heselton 18:44, 04 Dec 2005

I have read that his thesis used Chandler, Hammett & MacDonald's works, in part, to examine the concept of the heroic in the modern world. Few readers can doubt that the entire Spenser series (and to a much lesser degree, Jesse Stone) is an exercise in the meaning and place of heroics and the Heroic in the modern context. At least, I don't see how it can be denied! When I dig up the source, I'll add it to the bio section.

PainMan (talk) 08:21, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

This is probably a topic for an English class rather than Wikipedia talk, but the highly imperfect but always well-intentioned Jesse Stone fits the modern concept of a hero more closely than does Spenser, who is pleasantly archaic in his heroism. 67.173.10.34 (talk) 09:17, 7 September 2010 (UTC)Larry Siegel

The fact that his doctorate was earned has been in the article since early on and still is there. Kukkurovaca and I were discussing whether it should be mentioned, and if so, how. —JerryFriedman 00:02, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

High Profile has Sunny Randall in it

Hi, I thought I would let you know that the Jesse Stone novel "High Profile" has Sunny Randall in it (you mention in the other books when other characters appear). Also, for those who maybe haven't read all the Parker novels in order, before you read High Profile, you should read the Sunny Randall novel "Blue Screen", which has Jesse in it and will answer some questions that you might have with respect to his relationship with Jenn. Basically, there is some stuff that happens in between "Sea Change" and "High Profile" that you will not know about if you don't read "Blue Screen" first.

12.109.71.133 16:09, 30 July 2007 (UTC) Mark Boyd

Almost the entire biography (all the prose here) is a copyright infringement

Virtually the entire personal section has been cribbed from http://www.thespensarium.com/page1/index.html -- unfortunately, someone needs a refresher course in what it means to plagiarize. If you take entire paragraphs, paste them and then move a few select words around, that does not mean you're not plagiarizing. Doris Kearns Godwin, Stephen Ambrose, and Louis Roberts all got nailed for the same thing. It's plagiarism. Particularly if you use the exact same words and your descriptions follow the same exact outline - in this case, subject was born, meets wife, married, has children, degree, career, marital separation. It is patently obvious that someone just popped the text in here and thought they could just move around a few words and add a few more. My guess is that other parts of this article may have been taken liberally from the same site without permission.

Wikipedia:

Robert Brown Parker was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He met his future wife, Joan, when they were both children in their hometown; they began dating at Colby College. They married in 1956; they have two sons, David and Daniel. Robert Parker received a Ph. D. in English literature from Boston University in 1971, with a dissertation on the private-eye heroes of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. He worked in technical writing and advertising and then in academia, eventually becoming a full professor at Northeastern University. He became a full-time writer in 1979.

Spensarium:

Born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, Robert Brown Parker met his future wife, Joan, when both were ... They began dating while both were attending Colby College and were married in 1956. The couple has two sons, David and Daniel ...Mr. Parker received his Ph. D. in English literature from Boston University in 1971, for which he wrote a dissertation on the American Hero with a focus the private-eyes of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross MacDonald. After receiving his degree, he worked as a technical writer and in advertising and later became a full professor at Northeastern University. He released several novels in the Spenser series before becoming a full-time writer in 1979.

And here's this as well:

He and his wife separated in 1982 but reconciled in 1984, first living separately and since 1986 living on different floors of a house in Cambridge.

Word for word, the same here as on the Spensarium page.

98.194.237.126 (talk) 14:32, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

I rewrote the bio, only including stuff I could find in verifiable references, which are included. I removed the stuff I couldn't verify. That doesn't mean it isn't true, I just could verify it. Feel free to rewrite and re-add it if you can verify it:

Parallels between Parker's life and his fiction are easy to find. His first literary collaboration with his wife, Three Weeks in Spring, is based on her first bout with breast cancer. Spenser's separation from and reconciliation with his girlfriend mirror the Parkers' marriage. Spenser's surrogate child, Paul Giacomin, is a dancer and choreographer like his son, David. Both his sons are openly gay, which is reflected in Robert's work through his employment of sympathetic homosexual characters.

He and his wife separated in 1982 but reconciled in 1984, first living separately and since 1986 living on different floors of a house in Cambridge.

I removed the copyvio tag, since I think this resolves it. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 19:37, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

changes, edits explained

Edits

I removed the following sentence because, to me, it makes no sense.

...also includes Sunny Randall, unnamed

How can a fictional character appear unamed in a novel? Just a few days ago I re-read Bad Business and there's no hint of Sunny Randall that I could detect.

The following two statements are redundant:

Poodle Springs authorized by Chandler's estate.

Perchance to Dream authorized by Chandler's estate.

The books could not have been published without the Chandler estate's permission. In fact, the estate specifically selected Parker to complete the unfinished book.

I took this out:

Appaloosa (film)|screen adaptation

because I rewrote a paragraph that includes the information about Appaloosa's adaptation.

PainMan (talk) 08:17, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Changes

Rewrote and added several paragraphs.

Made it clear that the statement that Parker's prominent use of minority and gay characters gives his writing a modern feel were clearly from the Barnes & Noble bio written by a Christina Nunez. (Not that I disagree with it, but the description "modern feel" is both amorphous and clearly and editorial statement. After all, a "modern feel" could just as easily be applied to books where racial differences and discord over sexual orientation are shown to be treated negatively by major characters. Indeed, even in the Spenser novels, the bad guys invariably make racist and homophobic remarks. (In Cold Service the ancient Joe Broz refers to Gino Fish as a "fairy"; Spenser is also frequently abused in racial terms by black villains.)

PainMan (talk) 08:17, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Trivia Tags

Added Trivia tags to two sections of the Bibliography: Sunny Randal novels and the Phillip Marlowe continuation/sequel. They contain so many notes (and relatively few books) that they should both be rewritten into paragraphs. Something I will attend to soon.

PainMan (talk) 08:17, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't think that a trivia tag is the right tag for the section(s). An author's bibliography is hardly trivial in an article about the author. I would agree that the notes about cameoes and crossovers is better placed on the individual series pages, however. I'll clean up/listify the section and remove the tagsoknazevad (talk) 12:37, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Death Report

There are currently reports, supposedly originating from his UK publisher, that Robert B. Parker is dead. As of yet, I have found no online confirmation, either from that publisher, his personal web site, or that of the Boston Globe. It is possible that the article may need to go into "Death rumor" semi-lockdown if nothing concrete turns up soon. --Ray Radlein (talk) 14:05, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

• So far the only source I can find is Sarah Weinman, who writes a monthly Mystery column for the LA Times. No word at the LA Times web site, though; or the New York Times or Guardian or anywhere else yet. --Ray Radlein (talk) 14:23, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

Wall Street Journal has it now... Doconeill (talk) 17:29, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

• So does WBZ in Boston Pmunited (talk) 21:08, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

Does he leave a book unfinished? If so, any word on if somebody intends to finish it? (Cf Poodle Springs.) TREKphiler ^{any time you're ready, Uhura} 22:04, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

I have never done this before, so please forgive any impropriety, but if he died in 2010 how could he be married until 2013? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rev Black Pumpkin (talk • contribs) 05:38, 12 May 2015 (UTC)

Parker template

What does everyone think of a Parker template, like other authors have (e.g. Lincoln Child, Dashiell Hammett)? He certainly has a big enough bibliography to justify it. It would help navigation of all his works. Below is a proposed format.

I didn't include any TV series, made-for-TV movies or other films, because he didn't write any of them, but I'm open to discussion. Comments, suggestions, objections? — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 19:47, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

This looks good. I made some minor changes to reduce the group widths, and bullet markup to use WP:HLIST. One idea may be to group the novels together into a {{navbox|subgroup, but that would widen the groups a bit. Nice work. 174.56.57.138 (talk) 13:51, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

I have no memory of making this template, but seeing as how it is over 2 years old, I guess that's not surprising. Should we go ahead and replace the current template? — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 14:15, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

The only drawback that I see is that it will be larger, since the current template doesn't create so many groups. 174.56.57.138 (talk) 05:07, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

That could be taken care of by making it collapsed by default. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 15:10, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

Sunny Randall info

The section on Sunny discusses almost nothing except her romantic/emotional life. Prob. just an oversight, but I can't remember (or imagine) a male action hero character ever summarized in this fashion.

Having read one or 2 SR's, I seem to remember that her father was a police officer/detective? Maybe I have my female PI's confused.

I hope someone can give Sunny some depth. She wasn't one-dimensional, in my memory. Ragityman (talk) 06:34, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

"crime writer"

On 3June2008, user 6afraidof7 rewrote the lede for this article, and changed the characterization of Parker's writing from "fiction, primarily mystery", to referring to him as a "crime writer". Now, my understanding of the term "crime writer" involves nonfiction, exclusively, and primarily magazine articles, though not necessarily. The hyperlink crime writer supports this view. Having for several decades read everything available pertaining to RB Parker, I have seen no indication that he ever wrote ANY so-called "true crime". Even if he did, he is primarily known for his fiction, and for his scholarly analysis of classic "noir" fiction, which is also not "true crime". I am therefore correcting the lede back to the pre-6afraidof7 genre label. Rags (talk) 19:47, 8 January 2017 (UTC)