I posted on the literary reddit (“A glass bowl suspended by Three Chains“) about two rather similar seeming light fixtures in The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon, but now I’m thinking that I buried the lede somewhat and that the real story is that the sentences as a whole, including the light fixture they describe, are so similar. Here, again, are the two sentences:
—The Big Sleep (pp.722), in the offices of Harry Jones: “I found the light switch and light glowed in a dusty glass bowl hanging from the ceiling by three brass chains.”
—The Maltese Falcon (pp.398), in Sam Spade’s room: “A switch clicked and a white bowl hung on three gilded chains from the ceiling’s center filled the room with light.”
(Page numbers refer to the appropriate volume of the Library of America edition.)
And here are the similarities I see between them:
— both composed of two independent phrases joined by conjunction “and”;
— both with first phrase referring to the light switch being turned on;
— both with second phrase referring to the light activated by the switch;
— both with a “switch” operated light in a “bowl” “hanging”/ “hung” “(on/by) three (brass/ gilded) chains” “from the ceiling” / “from the ceiling’s center”
— neither contains significant information excluded by the other
— in sum, this could easily be two different people describing the same light or the same person describing the same light at different times.
Some differences:
— in Sleep, the first independent phrase employs the passive voice, while Falcon employs the active;
— in Sleep, “light” (as in “the dual nature of”) is the subject of the second independent phrase, with “bowl” appearing as the object of a preposition; while in Falcon it is the “bowl” that is the subject, and “light” that is the object of the preposition.
— the light in Sleep “glows”, while the light in Falcon “fills the room with light” creating the impression that, in general,
— the light in Sleep is dimmer than that of Falcon.
There would almost be a question of plagiarism if the thing in question were in any way worth plagiarizing, or if there were any other such examples. A friend has suggested it could be a homage, yet it would seem an obscure homage. Maybe it’s nothing.
.i`` * ^ / . . . . . ` `~ 