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Dashiell Hammett, Crime WriterAmerican Author, Founder of Hard-Boiled Detective Stories
Life and works of American writer Dashiell Hammett, best known for his crime novel, The Maltese Falcon, also a blockbuster film.
Dashiell Hammett, American writer of detective fiction and famous for The Maltese Falcon, was the first author to write crime stories in a hard-boiled style, that is, those realistic stories set in dangerous and rough areas of American cities. He wrote mystery stories about realistic low class life and the brutal world of the city streets where criminals thrive. Hammett set the standard for all the crime writers who followed him. Although his stories show a cynical attitude towards society, his works display a strong moral content. For instance, his created hero, private detective Sam Spade, is a tough man with a strong sense of justice. Early Life of Dashiell HannettSamuel Dashiell Hammett was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, on May 27, 1894, but grew up in Philadelphia and Baltimore. He left school when he was 14 and travelled across America, working as a clerk, newsboy, time keeper, and stevedore before becoming an advertising manager. He then worked as a private detective for the Pinkerton Agency, initially as an operator, and later based many of his stories on this experience, creating the first realistic private detective in fiction. Sam Spade is the hero of his most famous novel, The Maltese Falcon, that became an equally famous film starring Humphrey Bogart as Spade. Hammett also created another hero, Nick Charles, an honest private eye and a sophisticated detective. Later YearsHammett's four great novels - Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Maltese Falcon and The Glass Key - were all written by the time he was 36 and had met the playwright and writer Lillian Hellman who became his partner and companion for life. They worked and live in Hollywood. During the years between 1940s and 1950s, the American government was extremely anti-communist. This period is known as the McCarthy Era, coined after Senator Joe McCarthy, who led the hunt for communists. Hammett was suspected of being a communist. In 1951 he was called to testify in court against some of his colleagues alleged to be communists. He refused to do so, which resulted in him being sentenced to six months in prison. Final YearsHammett died of cancer at the age of 66, in 1961. Lillian Hellman contributed a memoir to her selection of his short stories, The Big Knockover (1966) which also includes Tulip, his unfinished autobiographical novel. Works by Dashiell Hammett
Sources:Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by Ian Ousby, Cambridge University Press, 1993 Chambers Biographical Dictionary, New Edition, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2002 Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring, Larousse plc, 1994
The copyright of the article Dashiell Hammett, Crime Writer in Great Writers is owned by Tel Asiado. Permission to republish Dashiell Hammett, Crime Writer in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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