[SNIP stuff about Spade]
>Add the muted face to the objective point of view, and
Spade becomes more
>an agent of action than a person one is really
interested in. In that
>sense, the story of Flitcraft comes out of no where,
and has the effect of
>a glimpse inside, or an awkward attempt at intimacy to
which Brigid doesn't
>respond. Either way, it's sort of laid out, like a
free association dream,
>for the reader to analyze, as if Hammett is saying
"Make something of this,
>cause that's all you're going to get from inside this
guy." At which
>point, I read on.
<Fearful of evoking Helen Reddy> Hhmm ... maybe
It is difficult to empathise/identify with Spade because he
is a total
bastard; however, he does embody certain traits of
masculinity which
might be *admirable* to certain sorts of men at certain times
in history
in certain social contexts: thirties, fear of war,
depression, man are
pretty emasculated. A demonstration of machismo might be just
the sort
of thing (North American?) men would wish to identify with at
some
level. Bogart's Spade can offer a similar opportunity a
decade later.
The Flitcraft episode *might* be 'a glimpse inside' --- I'm
not sure
that it's an attempt at intimacy as Bill suggests, simply on
the grounds
of Spade's previous form.
However, looking at other Hammett stuff, there *is* a couple
of
instances where an episode has been introduced to maybe bulk
out a work
(at a penny a word, not a bad idea); apart from the
Flitcraft
digression, there's a 'story within a story' in _The Thin
Man_, the tale
of Albert Packer, 'Maneater', which is lifted straight out of
the book
on Sam Spade's bedside table, Dukes _Celebrated Criminal
Cases of
America_
ED
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