<<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.>>
Speaking of Hemingway, he also used the full name
repetitiously in his
novels and stories. It's been several years since I last read
some of that
stuff, but I don't think he does it so much in the Nick Adams
stories.
However, take a look at THE SUN ALSO RISES and FOR WHOM THE
BELL TOLLS.
You'll see Hem use full names frequently, even when there
seems no reason
to do so (because it's already clear from context which
character he's
talking about). Part of this is Hem's aggressively working
out his style.
Part of which, I think, comes from his newspaper training --
staying
removed and objective to faithfully report the action. The
same is somewhat
true for Hammett, I think. Remember, his initial training as
a writer came
from writing reports as a Pinkerton agent. Using full names
for clarity
(and remaining objective) would have been common for such
reports, I
think.--Duane
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