Jim,
Golly, the town-tamer plot as you call it has to have been
around since the Greeks.
As for RED HARVEST, I had remembered it fondly, but when I
reread it after 40 years, it just fell apart for me. Of
course I agree it's still Hammett not Daly, but I simply
found I could hardly read it.
What I strongly suspect Hammett was doing in it was trying to
make a buck by giving his perceived audience what they
wanted, and at the same time metaphorically savage his hated
Boise.
In that regard, I highly recommend a recent novel by Jon
Jackson published by Dennis MacMillan, GO BY GO. It's nothing
less than Jackson's conception of the novel Hammett should
have written instead of RED HARVEST, and the reason he never
wrote that novel.
Best,
Dennis-Michael
----- Original Message ----- From: "JIM DOHERTY" <
jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com> To: <
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 04,
2005 7:52 PM Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Another Heresy -- The
Black Mask and other pulp fiction
> Re Mr Lynds's comments below:
>
> > If I can put in my newcomer's two-cents, a few
years
> > ago I reread all of
> > Hammet's novels, and RED HARVEST does not stand
up.
> > It's cliched and
> > terribly dated.
>
> With all due respect to our honored guest (by the
way,
> welcome; great to have you here) whose opinions
(at
> least the non-political ones) I respect and
usually
> agree with, RED HARVEST is nothing less than one
of
> the best PI novels ever written and, with the
obvious
> exception of THE MALTESE FALCON, Hammett's best
novel.
>
> Moreover, the basic "town-tamer" plot is
as
> influential on later PI fiction, in its way,
as
> FALCON's "Holy Grail" or "The Wench-dunit"
storylines.
>
> Years later, the "lone PI rides into a corrupt
rural
> area and cleans house" plot has been used by
Brett
> Halliday in A TASTE FOR VIOLENCE, Robert Parker
in
> PALE KINGS AND PRINCES, Cleve Adams in SABOTAGE,
Jack
> Lynch in THE MISSING AND THE DEAD, Mickey SPillane
in
> THE TWISTED THING, etc, etc. Substitute "cop"
for
> "PI" and you can add William Diehl's
HOOLIGANS,
> Stephen Hunter's HOT SPRINGS, Fred Bean's BLACK
GOLD,
> Matt Braun's ONE LAST TOWN, Horace McCoy's
"The
> Mopper-Up," etc, etc. An if you just make
the
> town-tamer a non-specific "lone heroic figure" and
you
> can add films like LAST MAN STANDING and
DESPERADO.
>
> The "town-tamer" plot may not particularly
resonate
> with you, and a lot of the stories deriving
from
> HARVEST may be dreck, but no story or novel
that
> wields that much influence can be totally
without
> worth.
>
> > On the other hand I was totally
> > surprised by THE THIN MAN.
> > If you read it carefully, and try to forget
the
> > movie, it's a pretty damn
> > good novel with much to say. The three in
the
> > middle hold up just fine, and
> > THIN MAN deserves a reassessment, Robert Parker
to
> > the contrary.
>
> I don't find THE THIN MAN a chore to read, but
it's
> light fare compared to RED HARVEST.
>
> As for Jack's comments, that started this
whole
> thread, the thing to remember is that the worst
of
> Hammett and Chandler should not necessarily
be
> compared to their best work, but to the work of
other
> writers plowing the same field.
>
> By that standard, even the worst of Hammett
and
> Chandler holds up damned well today. It only
seems
> disappointing compared to their best (and most
often
> reprinted) stuff.
>
> JIM DOHERTY
>
>
>
>
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