I think one of the problems with the appreciation of
Hammett's novels is that although they were collected
as
"novels", the Dain Curse, Red Harvest and the Big Knockover
were originally written as interlocking short stories. I
remember suffering a sense of disconnect with the Dain Curse
because parts 3,4 take place years after part 1 and 2 and
they're only vaguely connected. So it's not really fair to
criticize the plotting as Hammett wrote them as separate
stories.
When Hammett finally set out to write a proper novel,
"The Maltese Falcon", it is probably the finest hard-boiled
detective novel ever written.
Comparing Cain to Hammett is like comparing noir to
hard-boiled. They're the grandfathers of the modern crime
novel and their names have become examples of greatness in
their respective oeuvre.
--Chan
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 01 Oct 2007 EDT