Literary Interval

I interrupt your regularly-scheduled blog for this literary interval.

I am currently reading The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. I came to this sorta backwards, having loved Brick, and noticed that it was practically a remake of Huston’s The Maltese Falcon, and then Brick’s writer-director said his biggest influence on the film was Hammett, and there it was in the bookstore, so…

What is remarkable about this book is how fresh and modern it sounds. Sometimes I pick up an older book and I feel like I’m plodding through an earlier style of writing that doesn’t agree with me. F. Scott Fitzgerald does that to me. So does Ian Fleming, but I put up with it because it’s important to me. But Hammett is immediate, lively, and sly. He’s stylized without being overblown, he’s dialogue-heavy without being melodramatic, he’s funny but not ironic. The whole thing breezes by and it’s wonderful.

I am definitely going to read more Hammett, and also give Raymond Chandler a try.

2 comments

  1. Tom Hilton says:

    Cool! 🙂

    You obviously listened to the commentary, so you know this…but your own ‘backwards’ approach to Hammett is exactly analogous to the director’s–he discovered Hammett via Miller’s Crossing.

    I would highly recommend Red Harvest, The Glass Key, and a whole raft of short stories. (Miller’s Crossing is sort of The Glass Key with a little Red Harvest thrown in.)

    For Chandler, it’s probably best to start with The Big Sleep, because it is the first. Farewell, My Lovely and The Long Goodbye (notice a theme?) are my favorites. Most of Chandler’s short stories are pretty skippable, but you must read Red Wind, which has one of my favorite opening paragraphs ever:

    “There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your sking itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.”

    and also happens to be just a perfect long short story.

  2. deblipp says:

    That’s a gorgeous paragraph.

    Yeah, I listened to the commentary, and it definitely had a lot to offer. I love Miller’s Crossing, which gets just everything right, but I think it’s a shame the guy grew up and never knew about noir before that. I cut my teeth on those movies.

    I just never expected to like Hammett so much. I expected it to have that stiff, good-for-me style. I’m also impressed by how much of the dialogue was preserved word-for-word in the movie, and it makes me even more impressed with the quality of the performances (and the casting!).