OK, I'm crossposting. But since this will cause sufficient
trouble on both Rara and DT, I think it's worth amusing or
offending everyone on both lists. (Some of you will be amused
or offended twice.)
I read THE MALTESE FALCON this week, considered the
granddaddy of the PI novel. We all know the story. We've all
seen the movie. (And if you haven't, stop right now. Go rent
the DVD and watch it. Then come back and read on.) I have to
say it's right up there with GATSBY in terms of influence and
the snapshot it gives of its time.
Was that pretentious? Hardly. Every detective novel since
takes its cues from TMF. Last year's SMP/PWA winner, TONIGHT
I SAID GOODBYE, read quite a bit like a present-day sequel to
TMF, except that Perry has a partner in Pritchard he actually
likes.
If a PI story is good, it learns its lessons from THE MALTESE
FALCON and whatever other influential PI novel you can
probably add on top of that. If it's bad, 9 times out of 10,
it's ripping off TMF, THE BIG SLEEP, or Mickey Spillane. (Or
more recently, Robert Parker, who essentially reinvented the
wheel at a time it needed serious reinvention.) But read THE
MALTESE FALCON.
Every cliche you can think of in later novels is in TMF, but
they don't seem at all like cliches. They feel like a
function of the story. Spade is not a tarnished knight. He's
really a sleazewad who develops a conscience as time goes by.
He sleeps with his partner's wife even as he ponders getting
rid of Miles Archer. Yet, despite his cold handling of the
event, Archer's death eats at him, enough for him to throw
Brigid O'Shaughnessy to the wolves when the time comes.
Certainly, he has no use for Joel Cairo or Wilmer Cook.
Effie Perrine, probably one of this story's most underrated
characters, is a lot smarter and ballsier than the couple
dozen girl Fridays that have popped up in movies later. Were
this written in the last 15 years, Effie would have been a
partner in the agency or have taken on some of the legwork.
Alas, this is 1930, so Hammett does what he can with
her.
The thing that struck me most about THE MALTESE FALCON,
clearly the best of the Hammett novels, is that it wasn't
really a PI story as we've come to think of it. It's a story
about a private investigator. Only a PI (or a lawyer or an
insurance investigator. See THRILLING DETECTIVE for the
infinite number of ways one can play this role.) could get
into this kind of trouble and get out of it the way Spade
does.
Jim Winter
http://www.jamesrwinter.com
http://jamesrwinter.blogspot.com
winter-newsletter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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