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| Been reading the Novels of Dashiell Hammett, lately by Mischief Maker 10/04/2012, 3:04am PDT | ||||
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| Fun fact about Hammett's books, and the "hard boiled detective" genre: Most copycats feature a hard-drinking private eye as the protagonist, even if it's set in present day. Those copycats are missing the point entirely. Hammett was a member of the communist party and his books often have an anti-authoritarian subversive bent that is lost on the modern reader.
To whit: Hammett wrote his books during Prohibition. When Sam Spade shares a drink with the cops who just told him he's a murder suspect and says "success to crime" as his toast, or when the Continental Op wants to buy some booze and he goes to the police to hook him up, it's equivalent to a private eye in modern times passing a joint with on-duty cops. Arguably, "The Big Lebowski" is one of the most faithful adaptations of Hammett's work, at least in the subversive facet. |
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Been reading the Novels of Dashiell Hammett, lately by 10/04/2012, 3:04am PDT  'Red Harvest' is great. by 10/04/2012, 3:58pm PDT Re: 'Red Harvest' is great. by 10/29/2012, 9:16am PDT I avoid PA, so I am not the best source when it comes to rating its hell-holes NT by 10/29/2012, 3:34pm PDT |
