Vicki,
Re your comments below:
> I can't dispute anything you say about
Maltese
> Falcon, although I don't
> remember plot being as imporant as character in
that
> novel.
That's my point. Hammett constructed a tight, logically
worked out puzzle plot, complete with a surprise revelation
at the end, yet he did not do so at the expense of character,
action, or suspense.
If you read the Continental Op short stories, you may be
surprised at how many hinge on precisely the kind of plot
twists associated with a more traditional whodunit in the
Christie/Sayers/Queen mold.
Yet, as with FALCON, the Op's compelling character; Hammett's
hard, tough style; the superbly realized San Francisco
setting; the hard, dark milieu; and the ever-present
possibility of danger and violence are what we take away from
Hammett, not amazement at the ingeniousness of the
puzzles.
The point is a tightly organized puzzle plot, and a surprise
ending, doesn't have to come at the expense of character,
atmosphere, suspense, or good writing.
> I'm sorry to say that
> the casual racism and misogyny of that time
period
> taint the work for me, so
> that I can't read it again, but that's
another
> issue.
That's a shame. I don't think there's a lot of casual racism
of misogyny in Hammett's work, but I infer that it's not
Hammett's work, per se, but the era, and the attitudes of
that era, you object to. That's too bad, because you're
denying yourself a hell of a lot of good reading, from
Shakespeare to Dickens to Twain to Austen. To say nothing of
all the great pulp writers who flourished between the
wars.
> I do think Agatha Christie is the most
overrated
> author in history and her
> cheating and lack of characterization are
stunning.
I wouldn't say she cheated, within the parameters of the kind
of story she told, but, aside from that, I think your
criticisms of Christie are on the mark. On the other hand, no
one stays as popular as she has, for as long as she has (and
she's still one of the most popular mystery writers in print
more than two decades after her death) without having
something on the ball, so if her particular charm happens to
elude us, well, maybe that doesn't really matter to the
people who DO like her.
JIM DOHERTY
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