Sat 12 Nov 2016
Stories I’m Reading: One Each by DASHIELL HAMMETT and RAYMOND CHANDLER.
Posted by Steve under Pulp Fiction , Stories I'm Reading[6] Comments
DASHIELL HAMMETT “The Gutting of Couffignal.” Black Mask, December 1925. [+] RAYMOND CHANDLER “Red Nevada.” Black Mask, June 1935. Both stories have been reprinted many times, including a joint appearance in Great Action Stories, edited by William Kittredge & Steven M,. Krauzer. Mentor Book, paperback original, May 1977.
I came across the Kittredge & Krauzer paperback one day a short while ago, and I decided to bring it along on a recent cross-country flight I made. I’m glad I did. Other than the stories above, it also includes stories by Mickey Spillane (“I’ll Die Tomorrow”), Len Deighton, Fredric Brown, Robert L. Fish and a number of others, the names of most of whom I’m sure would be readily recognizable to everyone who visits this blog on a regular basis.
But the two authors featured at the top of those listed on the front cover are Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, the two most famous proponents (if not out and out creators) of the “hard boiled” school of writing, bar none. And while the two stories the editors selected are alike in some way, in others they are as different as night and day.
The plot of “The Gutting of Couffnignal” is the simpler and more straight forward of the two. The Continental Op has been hired to watch a table filled with wedding gifts overnight on a island in San Pablo Bay off the California shore, connected only by a single bridge.
An easy job, or it would have been if a gang of robbers armed with machine guns and other weapons doesn’t attack the island, blowing up the bank and a jewelry store with dynamite, and killing scores of people in the process. With the help of a family of Russian expatriates, the Op assumes the responsibility of coming to the aid of the entire island, and that he does.
The action is fast and furious, but the Op shows that all the while he’s on the move, he’s thinking too, and the ending is as hard boiled an ending as you imagine. It’s a story that once begun, you won’t put down until you’re done, with Hammett fully in charge with clear,clean prose.
“Nevada Gas,” Raymond Chandler’s tale of personal warfare between some top gangsters in the city of Los Angeles, is as hard boiled as Hammett’s, but the story is a lot more complicated and filled with some subtle nuances that can easily take you more than one reading before you decide you’ve caught them all.
Two scenes in particular stand out. In the first a heavy set crooked lawyer named Hugo Candless is taken for a ride in a limousine mocked up to look like his own, but it is not, and what’s more, it’s rigged to delivered a dose of fatal gas to anyone who finds himself trapped in the back seat.
The second, almost unnecessary to the plot finds a guy named Johnny De Ruse, who’s also the main protagonist, having escaped the same trap himself, going to a gambling place and faking his way into seeing the one responsible by making a scene in a crooked casino room.
As opposed to the Hammett story, Chandler’s zigs and zags, giving the reader only brief glimpses of a connected tale, but connected it is. Chander’s prose is lot more ornate, and the ending is much more quiet, but to my mind, it’s equally effective.
Question: If you’ve read both, which story did you like better? Which author tickles your fancy more?
November 12th, 2016 at 8:12 am
Talking about who is better, Chandler or Hammett is like talking about politics or religion. I still remember the telephone from a Hammett lover in the 1970’s, cursing and screaming because I liked Chandler.
Both are great and I’ve read each several times over the years. But all these years later, I still like Chandler better because of his style, humor, and language. Sometimes Hammett seems too tough.
But I love them both and along with Ross Macdonald they are my favorites.
November 12th, 2016 at 10:49 am
Can’t explain why but never could enjoy reading Chandler. Liked the movies though. There is humor in some of Hammett’s tales, but it’s very very dry.
November 12th, 2016 at 11:01 am
Hammett vs Chandler? Walker’s right. Like politics & religion. I should know. Years ago I was on a panel with William F. Nolan and Joe Gores at a BoucherCon in Las Vegas where this debate was the subject. Well, we all had something more or less interesting to say…until I derailed the whole dang thing by objecting to he blithely stated “fact” by both of my panel mates that Chandler, Hammett & Ross Macdonald are the Triumvirate of PI fiction. Uh uh. Wrong then. Or now. Macdonald is following the path set by Chandler, primarily with The Long Goodbye; a self-confessed imitator who went on to do respectably on his own. But the foundation of the genre is set by Hammett & Chandler, yes, but Spillane, not Macdonald, holds the #3 slot. It was a different genre after Mickey came along both in his pervasive influence and his depiction of the violent, paranoid, maniac dark side of our culture. Say what you will about Spillane craft but that alone ranks him as a far more important figure in the development of the genre than dear Ross.
November 12th, 2016 at 1:12 pm
Hardboiled mystery owes its birth not to any authors but to Black Mask magazine. I prefer Hammett’s writing especially with the Op. He puts me in the streets, and his dry wit appeals to me. Chandler wrote one of the greatest books in the mystery genre with THE BIG SLEEP, but his plots are too repetitive. Marlowe is hired by rich people trying to hide a secret. He uncovers the secret and the death it causes. His client always regrets hiring him and no one is better off now that the darkness of the secret is revealed.
I find Spillane and Macdonald are more representative of each’s era than major influences of the genre. Both have their appeal and both are some what dated in attitude.
I began this comment claiming Black Mask magazine was the most influential to PI fiction. I would also add radio and movies as being the other greatest influence on the genre.
Who the best writer is a matter of taste, and thank goodness for that. It would be no fun if everyone had the same answer.
November 12th, 2016 at 4:10 pm
In terms of the top three most influential originators in the field of hardboiled PI fiction, I agree with you, Steve, that Spillane has to be one of them.
There’s the Hammett school, the Chandler, and the Spillane, each vitally important to the field, and each distinctly different from the others. While a wonderfully brilliant writer, Ross Macdonald belongs to the Chandler school.
That’s how I see it, anyway!
There is, by the way, a Spillane story in this same collection of Action Stories, not a Mike Hammer tale, but one of a hitman for hire who thinks he’s infallible. A minor story but one you can read in one big gulp.
November 12th, 2016 at 9:11 pm
The consensus has settled on Spillane as the third name in the triad. Originally it was James M. Cain, then Ross Macdonald, but I think Spillane will last longer than the other two, especially in terms of influence.
I see no reason to pick between Hammett and Chandler. Each brought something unique to the field, each succeeded at their goals to some extent and to some extent failed. I read each with pleasure in different moods.