--- JIM DOHERTY <
jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I don't think Hammett is more politically
oriented
> or
> more concerned with implicit criticism of the
status
> quo than Chandler.
>
> In fact, I think a lot of the political baggage
that
> Hammett's work has been saddled withis
retroactively
> imposed on the basis of the political stands he
took
> later in life, after he'd given up writing
fiction.
>
> In fact, it could be argued that his
growing
> political
> consciousness-raising was what led to his
inability
> to
> write, since he began to see what he had written
as
> irrelevant precisely BECAUSE there was no
political
> component.
>
> At the same time, Chandler comments, at least
as
> much
> as Hammett, and often more overtly (though
perhaps
> not
> as well, but that's in the eye of the beholder),
one
> societal corruption in stories like "Spanish
Blood"
> and "Finger Man" and novels like FAREWELL, MY
LOVELY
> and THE HIGH WINDOW.
>
> Ultimately, however, what they were both after
was
> what you dismiss as nothing more than "the
good
> story
> well told."
>
> JIM DOHERTY
Lordy, Lordy, I actually agree with Jim Doherty.
doug
===== Doug Bassett
dj_bassett@yahoo.com
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