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James Ellroy reads Dashiell Hammett
Oct. 2nd, 2007 02:03 pmIn the Guardian:
The Op speaks the first words of Red Harvest: "I first heard Personville called Poisonville by a red-haired mucker named Hickey Dewey in the Big Ship in Butte." That line stands as the tonal chord for the entire hardboiled canon. Hammett equates human beings with toxic substances and goes south from there.
He doesn't mention The Maltese Falcon at all. He thinks Hammett felt guilty for his work in the fascist anti-union Pinkerton agency. It makes me want to reread all of Hammett's books. It makes me want to write short, blunt sentences.
The Op speaks the first words of Red Harvest: "I first heard Personville called Poisonville by a red-haired mucker named Hickey Dewey in the Big Ship in Butte." That line stands as the tonal chord for the entire hardboiled canon. Hammett equates human beings with toxic substances and goes south from there.
He doesn't mention The Maltese Falcon at all. He thinks Hammett felt guilty for his work in the fascist anti-union Pinkerton agency. It makes me want to reread all of Hammett's books. It makes me want to write short, blunt sentences.
