Re: RARA-AVIS: Hammett (was Cynical Hammett)
Anthony Smith (ansmith@netdoor.com)
Sun, 19 Apr 1998 12:48:23 -0500
> Looking at reproductions of some of Hammett's
correspondence with Knopf
> (see for egs Layman, Nolan, Johnson) it is quite clear
that DH has
> definite ideas about his prose, and punctuation, that
he doesn't want
> altered by the editor (whose name escapes me).
>
> Regarding whole scenes though, it is tempting to think
that an author
> with a free and easy way of spending, who is paid by
the yard for
> something he doesn't hold in to high regard
('blackmasking'), can quite
> happily shovel on another scene.
>
> Of course we have no way of knowing *what* DH was
attempting in a
> literary sense.
> Even if there was a published volume of correspondence,
one couldn't be
> sure whether Hammett is a) telling the truth b) really
knew what he was
> doing c) is the best judge anyway.
>
> As to the 'meaning' of the various passages discussed
in this thread, in
> the area of textual criticism one finds that the
criticism is often a
> better demonstration of the
ingenuity/preferences/prejudices of the
> critic than anything else. I'm not saying those
passages are *not*
> integral to the plot/organic unity/whatever, but that
such subjective
> arguments are rarely conclusive.
Well, in the literary sense, it seems that Hammett is widely
considered to
be someone who cut language rather than pad it on. That
Hemingway sort of
thing. Of couse, there are other ways to pad, but as for the
name NB, I
think it is a conscious decision to keep the reader from
becoming too
familiar with the character, to add distance, and it makes
sense to me.
Maybe it isn't so great in execution, but I can't say it was
just filler.
It was probably, in hindsight, bad judgment (as in, what do
the majority of
readers think nowadays).
Anthony Smith
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