Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of
hard-boiledHardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...
detectiveDetective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
novels and
short storiesShort Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are
Sam SpadeSam Spade is a fictional character who is the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon and the various films and adaptations based on it, as well as in three lesser known short stories by Hammett....
(The Maltese Falcon),
Nick and Nora CharlesNick and Nora Charles are fictional characters created by Dashiell Hammett in his novel The Thin Man. The characters were later adapted for film in a series of movies between 1934 and 1947; for radio from 1941 to 1950; for television from 1957 through 1959; as a Broadway musical in 1991; and as a...
(
The Thin ManThe Thin Man is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in Redbook. Although he never wrote a sequel, the book became the basis for a successful six-part film series which also began in 1934 with The Thin Man and starred William Powell and Myrna Loy...
), and
the Continental OpThe Continental Op is a fictional character created by Dashiell Hammett. A private investigator employed as an operative of the Continental Detective Agency's San Francisco office, he never gives his name and so is known only by his job description....
(
Red HarvestRed Harvest is a novel by Dashiell Hammett. The story is narrated by The Continental Op, a frequent character in Hammett's fiction. Hammett based the story on his own experiences in Butte, Montana as an operative of the Continental Detective Agency, San Francisco.Time included Red Harvest in its...
and
The Dain CurseThe Dain Curse is a novel written by Dashiell Hammett and published in 1929.- Plot summary :The detective known only as The Continental Op investigates a diamond heist that looks like an inside job. He is told of a supposed curse on the Dain family, said to inflict sudden and violent deaths upon...
).
In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on film, Hammett "is now widely regarded as one of the finest mystery writers of all time" and was called, in his obituary in
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, "the dean of the... 'hard-boiled' school of detective fiction".
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine included Hammett's 1929 novel
Red HarvestRed Harvest is a novel by Dashiell Hammett. The story is narrated by The Continental Op, a frequent character in Hammett's fiction. Hammett based the story on his own experiences in Butte, Montana as an operative of the Continental Detective Agency, San Francisco.Time included Red Harvest in its...
on a list of the 100 best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005.
Early life
Hammett was born on a farm called Hopewell and Aim in
St. Mary's CountySaint Mary's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland.As of 2010, the population was 105,151. Its county seat is Leonardtown...
, in
southern MarylandSouthern Maryland in popular usage is composed of the state's southernmost counties on the "Western Shore" of the Chesapeake Bay. This region includes all of Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties and sometimes the southern portions of Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties.- History...
. His parents were Richard Thomas Hammett and Anne Bond Dashiell. His mother belonged to an old Maryland family whose name was Anglicized from the French De Chiel). Hammett was baptized a Roman Catholic and grew up in Philadelphia and
BaltimoreBaltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
. "Sam," as he was known before he began writing, left school when he was 13 years old and held several jobs before working for the
Pinkerton National Detective AgencyThe Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, is a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired...
. He served as an operative for the Pinkertons from 1915 to February 1922, with time off to serve in
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. However, the agency's role in union strike-breaking eventually disillusioned him.
Hammett enlisted in the
United States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in 1918 and served in the Motor Ambulance Corps. However, he became ill with the
Spanish fluThe 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
and later contracted
tuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. He spent most of his time in the Army as a patient in Cushman Hospital,
Tacoma, WashingtonTacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
. While there he met a nurse, Josephine Dolan, whom he later married.
Marriage and family
Hammett and Dolan were married, and they had two daughters, Mary Jane (born 15 October 1921) and Josephine (born in 1926). Shortly after the birth of their second child, Health Services nurses informed Josephine that due to Hammett's TB, she and the children should not live with him full time. Josephine rented a home in San Francisco, where Hammett would visit on weekends. The marriage soon fell apart, but he continued to support his wife and daughters financially with the income he made from his writing.
Career
Hammett turned to drinking, advertising, and, eventually, writing. His work at the detective agency provided him the inspiration for his writings.
Known for his authenticity and realism, Hammett drew on his experiences as a
PinkertonThe Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, is a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired...
operative. As Hammett said: "All my characters were based on people I've known personally, or known about."
Raymond ChandlerRaymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
, the writer often considered Hammett's successor, summarized his accomplishments:
"Hammett was the ace performer... He is said to have lacked heart; yet the story he himself thought the most of [The Glass KeyThe Glass Key is a novel by Dashiell Hammett, said to be his favorite among his works. It was first published in 1931, and tells the story of gambler and racketeer Ned Beaumont, whose devotion to crooked political boss Paul Madvig leads him to investigate the murder of a local senator's son as a...
] is the record of a man's devotion to a friend. He was spare, frugal, hard-boiled, but he did over and over again what only the best writers can ever do at all. He wrote scenes that seemed never to have been written before."
- Chandler,
The Simple Art of Murder"The Simple Art of Murder" refers to both a critical essay and a collection of short stories written by hard-boiled detective fiction author Raymond Chandler. The essay was first published in The Atlantic Monthly in December 1944...
Later years
From 1929 to 1930 Dashiell was romantically involved with
Nell MartinNell Martin was an American author from Illinois specializing in light-hearted mysteries and short stories. She was at one time the girlfriend of writer Dashiell Hammett...
, an author of short stories and several novels. He dedicated
The Glass KeyThe Glass Key is a novel by Dashiell Hammett, said to be his favorite among his works. It was first published in 1931, and tells the story of gambler and racketeer Ned Beaumont, whose devotion to crooked political boss Paul Madvig leads him to investigate the murder of a local senator's son as a...
to her, and in turn, she dedicated her novel Lovers Should Marry to Hammett.
In 1931, Hammett embarked on a 30-year affair with playwright
Lillian HellmanLillian Florence "Lily" Hellman was an American playwright, linked throughout her life with many left-wing causes...
. This relationship was portrayed in the film Julia, in which Hammett was portrayed by
Jason RobardsJason Nelson Robards, Jr. was an American actor on stage, and in film and television, and a winner of the Tony Award , two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award...
and Hellman by
Jane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
, in Oscar winning and nominated performances respectively.
He wrote his final novel in 1934, and devoted much of the rest of his life to
left-wingIn politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
activismActivism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
. He was a strong
anti-fascistAnti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...
throughout the 1930s and in 1937 he joined the American Communist Party. As a member of the
League of American WritersThe League of American Writers was an association of American novelists, playwrights, poets, journalists, and literary critics launched by the Communist Party USA in 1935...
, he served on its Keep America Out of War Committee in January 1940 during the period of the Hitler-Stalin pact.
Service in World War II
In early 1942, following the
attack on Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, Hammett again enlisted in the
United States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. He was a disabled veteran of World War I, and a victim of tuberculosis, but he pulled strings in order to be admitted. He served as a sergeant in the
Aleutian Islands, where he edited an Army newspaper. He also fell victim to
emphysemaEmphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
. As a corporal in 1943, he had co-authored The Battle of the Aleutians with Cpl. Robert Colodny, under the direction of an Infantry intelligence officer, Major Henry W. Hall.
Post-war political activity
After the war, Hammett returned to political activism, "but he played that role with less fervor than before." He was elected President of the
Civil Rights CongressThe Civil Rights Congress was a civil rights organization formed in 1946 by a merger of the International Labor Defense and the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties. It became known for involvement in civil rights cases such as the Trenton Six and justice for Isaiah Nixon. The CRC...
(CRC) on June 5, 1946 at a meeting held at the Hotel Diplomat in New York City, and "devoted the largest portion of his working time to CRC activities." In 1946, a bail fund was created by the CRC "to be used at the discretion of three trustees to gain the release of defendants arrested for political reasons." Those three trustees were Hammett, who was chairman,
Robert W. DunnRobert Williams "Bob" Dunn was an American political activist and economic researcher. Dunn was an active member of the American Civil Liberties Union from its creation, serving on that group's National Committee from 1923 and on its Board of Directors from 1933 to 1941...
, and
Frederick Vanderbilt FieldFrederick Vanderbilt Field was an American leftist political activist and a great-great-grandson of railroad tycoon Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt, disinherited by his wealthy relatives for his radical political views. Field became a specialist on Asia and was a prime staff member and supporter...
, "millionaire Communist supporter." On April 3, 1947, the CRC was designated a
Communist frontA Communist front organization is an organization identified to be a front organization under the effective control of a Communist party, the Communist International or other Communist organizations. Lenin originated the idea in his manifesto of 1902, "What Is to Be Done?"...
group on the
Attorney General's List of Subversive OrganizationsThe United States Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations was a list drawn up on April 3, 1947 at the request of the United States Attorney General. The list was intended to be a compilation of organizations seen as "subversive" by the United States government...
, as directed by U.S. President
Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
’s
Executive Order 9835President Harry S. Truman signed United States Executive Order 9835, sometimes known as the "Loyalty Order", on March 21, 1947. The order established the first general loyalty program in the United States, designed to root out communist influence in the U.S. federal government...
.
Imprisonment and the blacklist
The CRC's bail fund gained national attention on November 4, 1949, when bail in the amount of "$260,000 in negotiable government bonds" was posted "to free eleven men appealing their convictions under the
Smith ActThe Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 is a United States federal statute that set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S...
for
criminal conspiracyIn the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
to teach and advocate the overthrow of the
United States governmentThe federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
by force and violence." On July 2, 1951, their appeals exhausted, four of the convicted men fled rather than surrender themselves to
Federal agentsThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
and begin serving their sentences. The
United States District Court for the Southern District of New YorkThe United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...
issued
subpoenaA subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
s to the trustees of the CRC bail fund in an attempt to learn the whereabouts of the fugitives. Hammett testified on July 9, 1951 in front of United States District Court Judge Sylvester Ryan, facing questioning by Irving Saypol, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, described by
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
as "the nation's number one legal hunter of top Communists". During the hearing Hammett refused to provide the information the government wanted, specifically, the list of contributors to the bail fund, "people who might be sympathetic enough to harbor the fugitives." Instead, on every question regarding the CRC or the bail fund, Hammett took the
Fifth AmendmentThe Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
, refusing to even identify his signature or initials on CRC documents the government had subpoenaed. As soon as his testimony concluded, Hammett was found guilty of
contempt of courtContempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
. Hammett served time in a West Virginia federal penitentiary where, according to Lillian Hellman, he was assigned to cleaning toilets.
During the 1950s he was investigated by
CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
as part of Senator
Joseph McCarthyJoseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
's attempt to identify Communist influence on American society and politics. He testified on March 26, 1953 before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations about his own activities, but refused to cooperate with the committee and was
blacklistedThe Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
.
Death
A lifetime's heavy consumption of alcohol and cigarettes worsened Hammett's tuberculosis contracted in World War I, and then according to Hellman (
Lillian HellmanLillian Florence "Lily" Hellman was an American playwright, linked throughout her life with many left-wing causes...
) "jail had made a thin man thinner, a sick man sicker . . . I knew he would now always be sick." He may have meant to start a new literary life with the novel Tulip, but left it unfinished perhaps because he was "just too ill to care, too worn out to listen to plans or read contracts. The fact of breathing, just breathing, took up all the days and nights."
As the years of the 1950s wore on, Hellman says Hammett became "a hermit," his decline evident in the clutter of his rented "ugly little country cottage" where "[t]he signs of sickness were all around: now the phonograph was unplayed, the typewriter untouched, the beloved foolish gadgets unopened in their packages." Hammett no longer could live alone and they both knew it, so the last four years of his life he spent with Hellman. "Not all of that time was easy, and some of it very bad, " she says but, "guessing death was not too far away, I would try for something to have afterwards." January 10, 1961, Hammett died in New York City's
Lenox Hill HospitalLenox Hill Hospital, on Manhattan's Upper East Side in New York City, is a 652-bed, acute care hospital and a major teaching affiliate of New York University Medical Center. Founded in 1857 as the German Dispensary, today's 10-building Lenox Hill Hospital complex has occupied its present site since...
, of
lung cancerLung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
, diagnosed just two months before. As a
veteranA veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
of two World Wars, he was buried at
Arlington National CemeteryArlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
.
Novels
All the novels except The Thin Man were originally serialized in three, four, or five parts in various magazines.
- Red Harvest
Red Harvest is a novel by Dashiell Hammett. The story is narrated by The Continental Op, a frequent character in Hammett's fiction. Hammett based the story on his own experiences in Butte, Montana as an operative of the Continental Detective Agency, San Francisco.Time included Red Harvest in its...
(published on February 1, 1929)
- The Dain Curse
The Dain Curse is a novel written by Dashiell Hammett and published in 1929.- Plot summary :The detective known only as The Continental Op investigates a diamond heist that looks like an inside job. He is told of a supposed curse on the Dain family, said to inflict sudden and violent deaths upon...
(July 19, 1929)
- The Maltese Falcon (February 14, 1930)
- The Glass Key
The Glass Key is a novel by Dashiell Hammett, said to be his favorite among his works. It was first published in 1931, and tells the story of gambler and racketeer Ned Beaumont, whose devotion to crooked political boss Paul Madvig leads him to investigate the murder of a local senator's son as a...
(April 24, 1931)
- The Thin Man
The Thin Man is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in Redbook. Although he never wrote a sequel, the book became the basis for a successful six-part film series which also began in 1934 with The Thin Man and starred William Powell and Myrna Loy...
(January 8, 1934)
Short fiction
- "The Gatewood Caper", 1923
- "Nightmare Town", 1924
- "The Tenth Clew", 1924
- "The House in Turk Street", 1924
- "The Girl with the Silver Eyes", 1924
- "Dead Yellow Women," 1925
- "The Gutting of Couffignal", 1925
- "The Scorched Face", 1925
- "Corkscrew", 1925
- "The Whosis Kid", 1925
- "The Main Death," 1927
- "The Big Knockover", 1927
- "$106,000 Blood Money", 1927
- "This King Business", 1928
- "Fly Paper", 1929
- "The Farewell Murder", 1930
Collected short fiction
- $106,000 Blood Money (Bestseller Mystery, 1943) A paperback
Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...
digestDigest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately 5½ x 8¼ inches, but can also be 5⅜ x 8⅜ inches and 5½ x 7½ inches. These sizes have evolved from the printing press operation end...
that collects two connected Op stories, The Big Knockover and $106,000 Blood Money.
- Blood Money (Tower, 1943) The hardcover edition of the Bestseller Mystery title.
- The Adventures of Sam Spade (Bestseller Mystery, 1944). Paperback digest that collects the three Spade stories and four others. This and the following eight digest collections were compiled and edited by Fred Dannay (one-half of Ellery Queen) with Hammett's permission. All of these were reprinted as dell map-back paperbacks.
- The Continental Op (Bestseller Mystery, 1945) Paperback digest that collects four Op stories.
- The Adventures of Sam Spade (Tower, 1945). The hardcover edition of the digest of the same title—this was the last time the digests were reprinted in hardcover.
- The Return of the Continental Op (The Jonathan Press, 1945). Paperback digest that collects five further Op stories).
- Hammett Homicides (Bestseller Mysteries, 1946). Paperback digest that collects six stories, including four that feature the Op.
- Dead Yellow Women (The Jonathan Press, 1947). Paperback digest that collects six stories, including four that feature the Op.
- Nightmare Town (American Mercury, 1948). Paperback digest that collects four stories, two of which feature the Op.
- The Creeping Siamese (American Mercury, 1950). Paperback digest that collects six stories, three of which feature the Op.
- Woman in the Dark (The Jonathan Press, 1951). Paperback digest that collects six stories, including three that feature the Op, and the three-part novelette Woman in the Dark.
- A Man Named Thin (Mercury Mystery, 1962). The last paperback digest, collects eight stories, including one Op story.
- The Big Knockover (Random House, 1966; an important collection, edited by Lillian Hellman, that helped revive Hammett's literary reputation; includes the unfinished novel Tulip).
- The Continental Op (Random House, 1974; edited by Steven Marcus).
- Woman in the Dark (Knopf, 1988; hardcover edition that collects the three parts of the title novelette; introduction by Robert B. Parker).
- Nightmare Town (Knopf, 1999; hardcover collection, contents different from the digest title of the same name).
- Lost Stories (Vince Emery Productions, 2005; collects 21 stories that have not been collected previously in hardcover or, in several cases, ever. Emery provides several long commentaries on Hammett's career that provide context for the stories; introduction by Joe Gores).
Uncollected stories
- The Diamond Wager (Detective Fiction Weekly, October 19, 1929).
- On the Way (Harper's Bazaar, March 1932).
Other publications
- Creeps by Night; Chills and Thrills (John Day, 1931; Anthology edited by Hammett)
- Secret Agent X-9 Book 1 (David McKay, 1934; collection of the comic strip written by Hammett and illustrated by Alex Raymond)
- Secret Agent X-9 Book 2 (David McKay, 1934; a second collection of the comic strip).
- The Battle of the Aleutians (Field Force Headquarters, Adak, Alaska, 1944; text written by Hammett, with illustrations by Robert Colodny).
- Watch on the Rhine (screenplay of Hellman's play, in Best Film Plays 1943-44, Crown, 1945; also includes the screenplay for Casablanca).
Unpublished stories
In 2011, magazine editor Andrew Gulli found fifteen previously unknown short stories by Dashiell Hammett in the archives of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin.
Published as
- Complete Novels (Steven Marcus, ed.) (Library of America
The Library of America is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature.- Overview and history :Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LoA has published over 200 volumes by a wide range of authors from Mark Twain to Philip...
, 1999) ISBN 978-1-88301167-3.
- Crime Stories and Other Writings (Steven Marcus, ed.) (Library of America
The Library of America is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature.- Overview and history :Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LoA has published over 200 volumes by a wide range of authors from Mark Twain to Philip...
, 2001) ISBN 978-1-93108200-6.
Praise for Hammett's work
“Hammett was the ace performer . . . He did over and over again what only the best writers ever do at all.” –
Raymond ChandlerRaymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
“Dashiell Hammett is as American as a sawed-off shotgun . . . It is true that he is so hard-boiled you could roll him on the White House lawn.” –
Dorothy ParkerDorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....
, The New Yorker
“The best novelist in the world since 1920.” –
Jean-Patrick ManchetteJean-Patrick Manchette was a French crime novelist credited with reinventing and reinvigorating the genre. He wrote ten short novels in the seventies and early eighties. His stories are violent, existentialist explorations of the human condition and French society...
“Great crime fiction started with Hammett.” –
James EllroyLee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a so-called "telegraphic" prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black...
“Hammett was breaking new ground in every book he wrote.” –
George PelecanosGeorge P. Pelecanos is a Greek-American author. Many of his works are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television writer...
“If not the greatest, Dashiell Hammett is certainly the most important American mystery writer of the twentieth century.” –
Tony HillermanTony Hillerman was an award-winning American author of detective novels and non-fiction works best known for his Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels...
“The influence of his books has been profound and far-reaching . . . not just in crime fiction, but in mainstream fiction, on radio, television, and particularly in film.” –P.D. James
“Hammett is one of the best contemporary writers.” –
Gertrude SteinGertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
“The smartest, liveliest, and most literate detective story writer in America.” –
Vanity FairVanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
“It is impossible to overstate the importance of Dashiell Hammett to the American detective story (or, I believe, to American literature).” –
Anthony BoucherAnthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
, New York Times Book Review
“The most important modern originator in the mystery field, giving us the first 100 per cent American, the first truly native, detective story, thus founding a school whose influence was, is, and will continue to be colossal, not only among mystery writers but among all writers.” –
Ellery QueenEllery Queen is both a fictional character and a pseudonym used by two American cousins from Brooklyn, New York: Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay and Manford Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee , to write, edit, and anthologize detective fiction.The fictional Ellery Queen created by...
“It is from Chandler and Hammett and Hemingway that the best modern fiction derives.” –
Kenneth RexrothKenneth Rexroth was an American poet, translator and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement...
“Hammett was the first American writer to use the detective story for the purposes of a major novelist, to present a vision, blazing if disenchanted, of our lives. . . . As a stylist he ranked among the best of his time, directly behind Hemingway and Fitzgerald. As a novelist of realistic intrigue with deep understated poetic and symbolic overtones, he was unsurpassed in his own or any time.” –
Ross MacdonaldNot to be confused with John D. MacDonaldRoss Macdonald is the pseudonym of the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar...
“Chandler called him 'the master,' didn't he? And I can see what Chandler means.” –
Colin DexterNorman Colin Dexter, OBE, is an English crime writer, known for his Inspector Morse novels which were written between 1975 and 1999 and adapted as a television series from 1987 to 2000.-Early life and career:...
“Hammett's fiction has affected almost all subsequent American writers' work, whether they know it or not. . . . To me, it is readily apparent that Hammett was one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, period.” –
Joe GoresJoe Gores was an American mystery writer...
Biography/criticism/reference
- Nolan, William F. Dashiell Hammett: A Casebook, 1969, McNally & Lofin, Santa Barbara.
- Fechheimer, David, editor. City of San Francisco: Dashiell Hammett Issue, 4 November 1975, City Publishing, San Francisco.
- Braun, Martin. Prototypen der amerikanischen Kriminalzahlung: Die Romane und Kurzgeschichten Carroll John Daly und Dashiell Hammett, 1977, Lang, Frankfurt.
- Layman, Richard. Shadow Man: The Life of Dashiell Hammett, 1981, Harcourt, Brace & Jovanovich, New York
- Nolan, William F. Hammett: A Life at the Edge, 1983, Congdon & Weed, New York.
- Johnson, Diane. Dashiell Hammett: A Life, 1983, Random House, New York.
- Marling, William. Dashiell Hammett, 1983, Twayne, New York.
- Symons, Julian. Dashiell Hammett, 1985, Harcourt, Brace & Javonovich, New York.
- Gregory, Sinda. Private Investigations: The Novels of Dashiell Hammett, 1985, Southern Illinois University Press.
- Christopher Metress, ed. The Critical Response to Dashiell Hammett, 1994, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut.
- Maurin, Maria Jose Alvarez. Claves Para un Enigma: La Poetica del Misterio en la Narrativa de Dashiell Hammett, 1994, Universidad de Leon.
- Mellon, Joan. Hellman and Hammett, 1996, Harper Collins, New York.
- Beunat, Natalie. Dashiell Hammett: Parcours d'une oeuvre, 1997, Encrage Edition, Amiens.
- Gale, Robert L. A Dashiell Hammett Companion, 2000, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut.
- Layman, Richard. Literary Masters, Volume 3: Dashiell Hammett, 2000, Gale Group, Detroit.
- Hammett, Jo. Dashiell Hammett: A Daughter Remembers, 2001, Carroll and Graf Publishers.
- Panek, Leroy Lad. Reading Early Hammett: A Critical Study of the Fiction Prior to The Maltese Falcon, 2004, McFarland, Jefferson, North Carolina.
- Lopez, Jesus Angel Gonzalez. La Narrativa Popular de Dashiell Hammett: Pulps, Cine, Y Comics, 2004, Biblioteca Javier Coy d'Estudis Nord-Americans, Universitat de Valencia.
- Layman, Richard, guest editor. Clues: A Journal of Detection; Theme Issue: Dashiell Hammett, Winter 2005, Heldref Publications, Washington DC.
- Thompson, George J. "Rhino". Hammett's Moral Vision, 2007, Vince Emery Productions, San Francisco.
- Herron, Don. The Dashiell Hammett Tour: Thirtieth Anniversary Guidebook, 2009, Vince Emery Productions, San Francisco.
- Lillian Hellman's three volumes of memoir, An Unfinished Woman, Pentimento, and Scoundrel Time contain much Hammett-related material.
External links