NOW AND ON EARTH

     In the last couple decades Jim Thompson (1906-1977) has come to be regarded as one of the masters of noir fiction. Most of his thirty-odd novels from the 1950s and 1960s are back in print. Thompson began writing stories of crime and violence in the 1930s, but he hoped to create serious, mainstream fiction. So it was that his first novel, Now and on Earth, focused on ordinary people facing typical problems. The book, which is strongly autobiographical, got good reviews but made little money. It was only after a second attempt failed to dent the market that Thompson returned to crime writing. His first novel in the genre appeared in 1949.

    Now and on Earth by Jim Thompson. Modern Age Books (1942), 306 pp.
    Jimmie Dillon’s life is falling apart. His hopes for continuing his writing career have crumpled, and he’s just taken a job in a San Diego aircraft plant. He works in the stockroom, where he’s learning the names and functions of hundreds of small parts. He’s not yet sure how to cope with his colleagues: Moon, his enigmatic boss; Gross, the bullying bookkeeper; Vail and Buskin, the mean jokesters; and Murphy, who might be a Mexican. Things are no better at home. Cash is tight, and everyone is feeling the pinch. Jimmie’s wife, Roberta, has just spent the rent money on shoes for their children. His increasingly absent-minded mother helps out with the food, but only one dollar at a time. His married sister, Frankie, avoids responsibilities. In addition, Jimmie’s mind is often clouded with thoughts of his unhappy childhood, especially experiences with his now institutionalized father. All of this is leading Jimmie to drink heavily.
    Readers will need to begin by discarding most of their preconceptions about Thompson’s work. As in his later crime novels the protagonist and narrator feels alienated from those around him. But the sources of Jimmie’s unhappiness -- frustrated ambition, brainless job, oppressive family -- are clear and specific. And his responses are ordinary and understandable. Jimmie is a decent and responsible guy, someone not all that different from millions of other people whose hopes for a better future are crashing against the realities of American life. Thompson not only gets the reader into Jimmie’s head but into his environment as well. Scenes at work and at home are vivid and painfully familiar. Ancillary characters are plausible and well rounded. Some readers may find the book’s flashbacks confusing and its viewpoint too bleak. Even so, the novel deserves a wide audience.