RARA-AVIS: Re: Maltese Falcon

From: jacquesdebierue ( jacquesdebierue@yahoo.com)
Date: 21 May 2008


--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Aaron Finestone"
<microbrewjournalism@...> wrote:

> Beating up people because they are gay is evil. Sam Spade is evil.
 Unlike
> other Bogart characters, there is nothing heroic about him.
>
> Does anyone have any thoughts on the sexual angle of the Maltese Falcon?

Pretty much agree with you, except that I don't use the word evil except in the case of really bad motherfuckers... Spade is a pretty ordinary guy. He is a hero within his class of people, the semihucksters. And in judging attitudes towards homosexuality, you have to consider when the book was written -- late twenties. If you apply a stringent revisionism, you would have to condemn a lot of old literature and art.

Best,

mrt



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