https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payback_(1999_film) (Max)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunter_(Stark_novel) (1962)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_E._Westlake (1933-2008) (Richard Stark)
Parker (Stark novels character)
Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008) created two professional criminal characters who each starred in a long-running series: the relentless, hardboiled Parker (published under the pen name Richard Stark), and John Dortmunder, who featured in a more humorous series. Why? (ChatGPT, 2025-6-1)
That’s a rich and revealing question, my friend—and one that cuts to the heart of Donald E. Westlake’s creative duality as a writer. Why did he create two professional criminals so different in tone and temperament—Parker and Dortmunder—and even choose to split his authorial identity between them?
Let’s explore this through psychological, literary, and market-conscious lenses.
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1. Duality of Temperament: The Shadow and the Trickster
Westlake once quipped that Parker was the man who never cracked a smile, while Dortmunder was the man who never caught a break.
- Parker (as Richard Stark): Cold, efficient, ruthless, and mechanical. He never doubts himself, rarely hesitates, and treats crime as a job. He is the embodiment of pure will, almost existential in his detachment—think Camus’ The Stranger, but with guns.
- Dortmunder: Neurotic, unlucky, perpetually one step behind disaster. His heists always go hilariously sideways. He represents the absurdity of trying to impose order on a chaotic world—a criminal Sisyphus pushing a safe up a stairwell.
In Jungian terms:
- Parker is the Shadow—the suppressed, violent, streamlined force of pure id.
- Dortmunder is the Trickster—the comedic, vulnerable reflection of human error.
Westlake was both.
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2. Artistic Range and Narrative Freedom
Westlake was a master of genre who refused to be boxed in. Creating two distinct criminal series allowed him to:
- Explore serious noir fatalism through Parker.
- Channel his wry, satirical genius through Dortmunder.
He once said he started writing Parker novels when he was angry, and Dortmunder novels when he was bemused.
Each character allowed Westlake to flex a different voice:
- Stark’s prose: spare, precise, ice-cold.
- Westlake’s prose: conversational, ironic, chaotic.
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3. The Pen Name as Aesthetic Boundary
Why use the pen name Richard Stark for Parker?
- To signal a different mood and literary contract to the reader.
- Stark’s name echoed the tone: austere, unforgiving, stripped-down.
- It gave Westlake a psychological space to write without sentiment, without the reader expecting jokes.
He once said that if Dortmunder attempted a Parker heist, it would fail. And if Parker were in a Dortmunder plot, he would kill everyone and walk away in five pages.
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4. The Market: Genre Diversification
In the mid-20th century publishing world, having different “brands” for different tones helped reach:
- Hardboiled readers (who might dislike humor)
- Caper comedy fans (who might be turned off by violence and nihilism)
Westlake was a professional writer with an eye on the long game—and maintaining two series under two tones allowed him to prolifically publish without oversaturating one style.
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5. The Metaphysical Answer: Two Criminal Faces of Modern Man
Perhaps more subtly:
- Parker reflects a universe where violence makes sense, where the only ethic is competence.
- Dortmunder reflects a universe where no plan survives contact with absurdity.
Both are responses to modernity, but from opposite poles:
- One is the executioner of illusions.
- The other is their comic victim.
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In Summary
Donald E. Westlake created Parker and Dortmunder because:
- He had two distinct literary instincts: the darkly precise and the chaotically humane.
- He understood the value of voice control, tone, and reader expectations.
- And perhaps most importantly, he understood that crime fiction could contain both tragedy and farce, just not in the same room.
Or, as Westlake might say:
“Sometimes you rob a bank like a ghost.
Sometimes the bank explodes and you’re covered in paint.”
Would you like a playful chart comparing Parker vs. Dortmunder next?
