The Critical Response to Dashiell Hammett

Front Cover
Christop Metress
Bloomsbury Academic, Dec 30, 1994 - Literary Criticism - 253 pages

As author of Red Harvest, The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, and other works, Dashiell Hammett is one of the most popular American writers of detective fiction. The critical response to his work has been diverse. Edmund Wilson saw little merit in his novels, while Raymond Chandler pointed to Hammett's originality and artistry. While some critics have considered it foolish to search for deeper meanings in his novels, many others have praised his writings as profound social and literary documents.

Spanning more than 60 years of critical response, this collection includes contemporary reviews of Hammett's novels from the 1920s and 1930s as well as more than 20 full-length essays representing diverse critical approaches and assessments. It is the first collection of critical essays devoted to Hammett's work. Included are essays by major novelists such as Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, along with pieces by influential literary critics such as Edmund Wilson and John G. Cawelti. Moreover, two of the essays were written specifically for this volume. An introductory essay traces the development of Hammett's literary reputation, and an extensive bibliography lists sources for further reading.

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Contents

Forms of Labor in Dashiell Hammetts Red Harvest
12
From The Hardboiled Dicks
34
Hammetts The Dain Curse
56
Copyright

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The Critical Response to Dashiell Hammett
Christop Metress
No preview available - 1994

Common terms and phrases

action American androgyny Armchair Detective Beaumont becomes begins Big Knockover biography Black Mask Brazil Brigid chapter character Continental Continental Op corruption crime criminal Critical Response Dain Curse Dashiell Hammett detective fiction detective story detective's dialogue Dinah Brand Edenbaum Elihu Willsson essay fact final Fitzstephan Flitcraft gangster polity gender genre Glass Key Gutman Hammett's fiction Hammett's novels hard-boiled detective hard-boiled fiction Hellman Hemingway hero individualism interpretation killed labor Lillian Hellman literary literature Luise Madvig Maltese Falcon meaning modern Moral Vision murder mystery narrative never Nick Charles Nolan novelist Novels of Dashiell Op's Personville play plot Poisonville police political postmodern Private Eye Raymond Chandler reader Red Harvest Rex Stout Robson role romance Sam Spade scene seems sense sexual social society solution Spade structure style suggests tells Thin things Tough Guy truth violence Vision in Dashiell William Wolfe woman women writer Wynant York

About the author (1994)

CHRISTOPHER METRESS is Assistant Professor of English at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. His interests include 19th- and 20th-century American literature, detective fiction, and literature of the American South. His many articles have appeared in journals such as Studies in the Novel, Studies in Short Fiction, Essays in Literature, and South Atlantic Quarterly.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe Critical Response to Dashiell Hammett
Issue 15 of Critical Responses in Arts and Letters, ISSN 1057-0993
EditorChristop Metress
PublisherBloomsbury Academic, 1994
ISBN0313289387, 9780313289385
Length253 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Literary Criticism / American / General
Literary Criticism / General
  
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