Ask the Critic: Dashiell Hammett

Reshma Thomas writes in to ask:

Have you ever read any works from Dashiell Hammett? If so, what do you think of him as a person and as a writer? Are there any authors that remind you of him?

I have had limited, but enjoyable experience with Hammett's work. He was a very talented and influential writer -- his book The Maltese Falcon in particular had a huge effect on the development of popular fiction in the U.S.

He essentially created the genre of the American detective novel -- a distinct, more realistic and harder-edged form than that of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes -- and helped to garner literary regard for the mystery novel more generally.

All the subsequent American detective writers, from Raymond Chandler to Mickey Spillane and John D. MacDonald, all the way up to Sue Grafton, Dennis Lehane and Michael Connelly, owe him a debt. You can see echoes of what Hammett created in all of their works.

Hammett drew in some ways on his personal life -- where he had been a Pinkerton detective -- in his writings, but I don't know much about his life other than that.

Comments

[Elaine Flinn]

Sadly, many of us often forget how much we owe to Hammett. Most praise is usually to Cain, Chandler, etal. Not that they weren't - and still are...enormous influences...

[Maxine]

I adore Dashiell Hammett, whom I discovered when a child. I love all his books but I think The Dain Curse is my favourite. I know it isn't regarded as his best, but for some reason I like it the best of his novels (there aren't many - about 5 that I know of, as well as the short stories). I am quite happy to read any of his books; for me, he's endured more than Chandler and MacDonald, though I'm fond of them too.

[Maxine]

PS, He was a lover of Lillian Hellman; she's written interesting works about their relationship.

[I.J.Parker]

I owe nothing. Hated THE MALTESE FALCON and read nothing else by him.

Come to think of it, I don't much like the others, with the exception perhaps, of Connelly's LINCOLN LAWYER.

But that's really beside the point. Clearly he was an influential author.

[Elaine Flinn]

Ingrid!
You really, really crack me up!

[Cosmo Vittelli]

Apparently, he had a habit of writing in his underwear.

Which, I guess is better than if he were writing in someone else's.