Chan,
Re your comments below:
"I think one of the problems with the appreciation of
Hammett's novels is that although they were collected as
'novels,' the Dain Curse, Red Harvest and the Big Knockover
were originally written as interlocking short stories. I
remember suffering a sense of disconnect with the Dain Curse
because parts 3,4 take place years after part 1 and 2 and
they're only vaguely connected. So it's not really fair to
criticize the plotting as Hammett wrote them as separate
stories."
While agreeing with the general thrust of your comments, a
few minor corrections.
First, THE GLASS KEY was also orignally published as a series
of four linked but self-contained short stories. The seams
are much better concealed than they are in THE DAIN CURSE of
BLOOD MONEY, and a bit better concealed than in RED HARVEST,
but they are still there if you look.
Second, there were only a few months between part 2 and 3 of
THE DAIN CURSE.
I love THE DAIN CURSE, by the way, but in none of the other
two Op novels are the "serialized without actually being a
serial" origins more apparent. In RED HARVEST, he integrates
the disparate chapters rather well, and the fact that the
action takes place in the same place, within a short period
of time, makes it easier to see the completed package as a
unified effort. BLOOD MONEY, of course, consisted of only two
installments instead of four, and, consequently, doesn't seem
as disjointed.
CURSE, on the other hand, with each installment following a
fairly separate plotline (the missing diamonds, the temple,
the honeymoon kidnapping, and the tying of the first three
parts together), and the passage of time between parts 1 and
2, and parts 2 and 3, seems much more disjointed. Even the
way it was published in book form, with each separate short
story installment separated from the others as a "Part," adds
to the disjointedness.
Nevertheless, to the degree that CURSE, follows Chandler's
dictum of the best story being made up of a series of great
scenes, however indifferently linked, CURSE is a success.
Eachindividual scene is simply great. The dialog has all of
Hammett's characteristic toughness, and the storyline all of
Hammett's breakneck pace. At the same time, Hammett, as he
did in HARVEST, and will in FALCON, establishes a number of
"standard plot devices" that PI writers will emulate for
years to come, the dysfuntional family with long-buried
secrets, the phony religious cult, the innocent client whom
the PI hero falls for but sends on her way, etc. Even the
courtroom scene at the end anticipates Gardner's Perry Mason
series.
No CURSE, despite its cobbled-together structure, is still
one of the best PI novels ever, and it only suffers in
comparison to HARVEST and FALCON.
As for the Op, short stories, every one is a gem, and
"The Gutting of Couffignal" is nothing except the best
private eye short ever written.
JIM DOHERTY
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