The Poet of Collision

ShapeSphere · Sep 30, 2007

It'll be old news to a lot of you, but here's an article from yesterday's Guardian (U.K. newspaper).

James Ellroy, in a fast-paced display of word power, writing about Dashiell Hammett's work:

The poet of collision

I prefer Chandler and Ellroy, but the article does a great job of making me want to read more Hammett.

GeorgeKaplan · Sep 30, 2007

ShapeSphere said:
I prefer Chandler and Ellroy, but the article does a great job of making me want to read more Hammett.

Definitely. Do it. To paraphrase a famous teacher on the Hemingway-or-Faulkner question: read all the Chandler you can get your hands on, then all the Hammett you can find to get the Chandler out of your system.

Good article. Ellroy underlines the thing I've always liked about Hammett's protagonists, especially in The Glass Key and The Maltese Falcon: they live by a deeply disguised moral code in an amoral universe, which is only revealed when their manuevering has succeeded. The Coen Brothers are also big Hammett fans. Check out Miller's Crossing.

ShapeSphere · Nov 29, 2007

The hard-boiled bard

GeorgeKaplan said:
Definitely. Do it. To paraphrase a famous teacher on the Hemingway-or-Faulkner question: read all the Chandler you can get your hands on, then all the Hammett you can find to get the Chandler out of your system.

That has to be the worst advice I have ever heard. And it's your only post as well. I waited to see if that would happen.

I want to keep Chandler's fine style in my system. Thank you. Here's another article, this time about Chandler: The hard-boiled bard.

Kate Thornton · Nov 30, 2007

I love that phrase - "The Poet of Collision" - I wish I had thought of it.

I'm a big fan of both Hammett and Chandler - so different, but in the same place at the same time, a weird and surreal co-existence that transcends style.

PS Welcome to the boards, GeorgeKaplan!

The Poet of Collision

ShapeSphere

Hello, Hooray

GeorgeKaplan

ShapeSphere

Hello, Hooray

Kate Thornton

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere