Dear Juri,
I thought your post was interesting. I think Moby Dick was a
masterpiece when written, and is a masterpiece today---and
I'm not sure that there is another American work that has
been written in the same "form." By that, I mean that despite
the fact that Moby Dick is generally acknowledged as one of
American literature's greatest achievements--I do not believe
that it served as a model for any tradition that grew up
around it. That is, it still does not fit into any
"canon." (As I understand canon.)
Within the hard boiled/Black Mask canon and tradition, I
believe that the Maltese Falcon is a masterpiece. In some
ways the Glass Key may be a greater novel, but I do not
believe it is a greater example of the hard boiled novel than
the Falcon. the plot is perfect, the themes of loyalty
(Spade) and disloyalty/subterfuge/greed (just about every
other character) are beautifully played out in action and
dialogue. The characters are iconographic (Hammett is so sure
of himself that even the character's names are wonderfully,
ridiculously, and perfectly Iconographic).
Also, every year it seems clear to me that Hammett and
Chandler become more deeply embedded in mainstream American
literature--without losing their essence as Black Mask hard
boiled writers. I also think that Chandler's Farewell My
Lovely is a great novel, whether we choose to call it a
masterpiece or not.
And certainly Chandler and Hammett are part of the fabric of
American Popular culture. And because this is America,
popular culture has a way of becoming (often after the French
analyze it to death intellectually) comes back to us as "art"
and for other reasons, our American popular culture forms
seem in time to emerge as part of our mainstream intellectual
heritage. Look what happened to Rock & Roll. Dylan's got
honorary degrees from Princeton, one of Frances highest
artistic honors
(forgot the name of the honor) etc., etc.
I liked much of what you said, but I think you err by
implication when you say
"they're still popular culture and not masterpieces. I
suggested that Chandler and Hammett probably each wrote "a
masterpiece of popular culture" and that American popular
culture tends to become mainstream, particularly after it is
acclaimed by the rest of the world--that probably doesn't
know about or care whether Americans consider our own works
mere popular entertainments, or great artistic
achievements.
Juri Nummelin wrote:
> ....If something is considered a masterpiece, it
just means that the literary
> paradigms are such that some work of literature can
be taken in the literary
> canon. If Melville's "Moby Dick" was considered
overwritten and strange at the
> time of its publishing, it was because it couldn't
fit into the literary canon of
> the time.....
>
> ....I haven't seen that any hardboiled piece of
literature, be it
> Chandler or Richard Stark, has been taken into the
literary canon. They are still
> popular literature and not masterpieces.
....
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