In a message dated 12/10/03 4:03:19 AM Eastern Standard Time,
owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca writes:
<<
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2003 11:01:01 -0800
From: Kevin Burton Smith <
kvnsmith@thrillingdetective.com>
Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: Chandler or Hammett
Chris' friend said:
>"Chandler's atmospherics mesmerize, but Chandler's
sense of evil is,
>at best, window-shopping. Dash has seen the
furnace."
Pure myth-making. If there was a hell on earth at the
time, it was
the trenches of World War I. Chandler saw that evil
first hand, and
barely managed to survive. Chasing ferris wheels --
whether it
actually happened or not -- doesn't even come close
(though living
with Lillian Hellman probably does).
The Op and Spade may have been taciturn, but boy, did
Dash like
talking about his Pinkerton past. Chandler, meanwhile,
kept his
private life, and particularly his war experience,
private.
Hammett's much mythologized and romanticized years as a
Pinkerton
agent made for great promo copy, but an author's
experience counts
for relatively little compared to his imagination and
talent and
style, which both Hammett and Chandler had in
spades.
- --
Kevin Burton Smith
The 2003 Cheap Thrill Awards are back. Vote now, vote
often.
http://www.thrillingdetective.com
- -- >> As I have stated before, I generally
agree with Kevin that talent, style and imagination are far
more important than experience in determining the worth of a
writer. And before I go further, let me say that I have great
admiration for both Chandler and Hammett and both have
distinct strengths and weaknesses.
But I think we can fall prey to putting on the authors the
sins of their admirers. While much may have been made of the
Pinkerton past of Hammett by Captain Shaw and others, lets
face it, this was inevitable. I do not recall
(although I have not researched this by rereading
biographies) that Hammett overly harped on this. It did
influence his writing and--so fucking what? He was writing
about what he knew just as his contemporary in the pulps Bill
Adams wrote stories about sailors and ships because he had
been a sailor on ships.
Hammett served in both World Wars and certainly in the second
he was of an age and health where it took great effort to
serve and in either war he did not know where he would end
up.
Chandler was turned down for health reasons in the US and
went up to Canada to enlist--which perhaps was more suitable
for this British educated fellow and it certainly earned him
special credit for his crown of maple leaves. He did go out
of his way to serve and he did see intense combat action in a
brief period between the Spring of 1918 when he was ordered
to France and June of 1918 when he was ordered back to the
UK. Like a lot of soldiers in any war, he didn't refer to it
much. And Kevin is certainly right about WW I, with the
possible exeption of our Civil War, this was the cruelist of
all combats.
As one who experienced his own relatively brief period of
combat, I know that it can have a lasting impact in many ways
overt and subtle. I can't say how it entered into the
character of his stories but I can sense it there. And part
of what I sense there is a depth that I don't feel in
Hammett.
But I can also say that Chandler was at times groping for the
reality of those mean streets. I am reading some of his early
stories now and it is clear that his feel is second hand and
at times forced. Hammett, as an experienced investigator, had
the perfect touch for those details. Yes, he knew it better
and it showed. But Chandler knew some darker things in the
human soul and that showed as well.
So let's appreciate them for what they are and not burden
them with more attitudes than they had in real life--and they
had more than a sufficiency. Let's judge them by what is on
the page and not what was in their background that may or may
not have any significance.
I recall the many stories of Cornell Woolrich that I have
enjoyed even knowing that the poor, weird old guy stayed in
hotel rooms with his mother and rarely ventured forth to
experience life. Yet at his best, some of that inner torture
managed to get on the page and more than make up for his lack
of real world experience.
Richard Moore
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