I'm reading THE MALTESE FALCOM for Falcon month. I probably
know it better than any other novel (not to say that means
much), because of multiple readings and many viewings of the
1941 movie, but it still surprises me. I'd forgotten things
like the detailed description of how Spade rolls a
cigarette--a medium-long paragraph, with complete
instructions--and the head-to-toe listing of every piece of
clothing Spade puts on when he gets dressed after being
called about Archer's death.
(For undies, he wears a union suit plus garters to hold up
his socks, so he was pretty bundled up. San Francisco's
pretty cold.)
We all know how close the novel is to the 1941 movie, except
for the missing Flitcraft episode. So far the differences
I've noticed are just mild cursing and Joel Cairo's
description, but I'll do a closer comparison when I watch the
movie with book in hand, with reference to Mr. Duggan's work.
How's that going, Mr. Duggan? It's been a while since we
heard how your work was proceeding, I think.
I was thinking that THE MALTESE FALCON was an "ur text" of
hardboiled writing, but apparently that means a best version
of a lost text, put together by analyzing later corrupted
versions. That's not the case here. Is it seminal?
Archetypal? Progenitive? Prototypical? All of the above? You
English profs must know the right terms. It's not the first
hardboiled novel, nor Hammett's first, but it's the key early
work in the genre.
Bill
-- William Denton : Toronto, Canada : http://www.miskatonic.org/ : Caveat lector.
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 07 Sep 2004 EDT