"v"s and Malta

[Dave Monroe]

James, you might be interested in William Marling's very interesting The
American Roman Noir: Hammett, Cain, and Chandler (Athens: U of Georgia
P, 1998).  Marling discusses precisely that passage from Dashiell
Hammett's The Maltese Falcon you posted in the context of streamlining.
Also some interesting comments in re: the "skyscraperesque" construction
of (descriptions of) various characters, inc., as I recall, F. Scott
Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby.

I spent a little time on the "hard-boiled" or whatever novel, the "roman
noir" (mostly James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, though),
and this was by far the best critical work I came across, though I'd
appreciate any suggestions, for either "primary" or "secondary" (though
I imagine it's obvious I might not necessarily buy into that
distinction) reading.   Hammett's various "V"s here might or might not
necessarily have anything to do with Pynchon's (though now that the
connection has been made ...), but I'm all for keeping those lines,
those circuits, those intertextualities open ...