Mr Doherty wrote:
> Again, let me reiterate, I'm not saying
Chandler's
> better. I'm saying that, for better or for
worse,
> he's the more influential. Or at least, the
more
> OBVIOUSLY influential.
I agree with all of this (indeed his whole post, which I
snipped for brevity's sake). Chandler reimagined the PI story
as another version of the archetypal "hero who goes out and
confronts a sea of evil" tale, which of course has immense
traction with everyone -- who doesn't like to root for a
hero? He's accessible in ways that Hammett sometimes isn't.
Hammett, I think, it more "artsy" (oddly so, when you think
about their respective bios.) -- he's all about stripping the
trappings away from society and taking a good hard look at
what he feels the universe really is
(Flitcraft story in FALCON). He's essentially a Modernist, I
think, though not often thought as such.
Again, not value judgements: if I had to list my ten favorite
novels in the genre two of them would be THE GLASS KEY and
FAREWELL, MY LOVELY
doug
===== Doug Bassett
dj_bassett@yahoo.com
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