Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961)

A selective list of online literary criticism for Dashiell Hammett, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars, articles published in reviewed sources, and web sites that adhere to the Modern Language Association Guidelines for Web Pages

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Literary Criticism

DeFino, Dean. "Lead Birds and Falling Beams." First page of article only. Journal of Modern Literature 27 (2004).

Freedman, Carl and Christopher Kendrick. "Forms of Labor in Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest." First page of article only. PMLA, 106 (1991).

Horsley, L. A substantial introduction to Dashiell Hammett, from the Literary Encyclopedia, 10/20/01.

Irwin, John T. "Being Boss: Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep" [and Hammett's Sam Spade and Continental Op]. Southern Review 37 (2001).

Layman, Richard, ed. Publisher's site for Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade (Vince Emery Books 2005).

Layman, Richard. A review of Shadow Man: The Life of Dashiell Hammett (Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich 1981). Reviewed in the NYTimes by John Leonard, 7/8/81.

Layman, Richard. Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett, 1921-1960. Excerpt from Part One. Also, a review, in NYTimes, 5/6/01 (requires one-time registration).

Layman, Richard. "There's Only One Maltese Falcon," in January Magazine.

Malmgren, Carl D. "The Crime of the Sign: Dashiell Hammett's Detective Fiction." Twentieth Century Literature, Fall 1999.

Marcus, Steven. "Hard-Boiled Writing from a Private Eye." In an interview Professor Marcus, editor of a new Library of America edition of Hammett's novels and stories, discusses Dashiell Hammett's development as a writer. Ideas, 5 (1997).

Porter, Joseph C. "The End of the Trail: The American West of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler," first page of article only. The Western Historical Quarterly, 6 (1975).

Reddy, Maureen T. A review of Foul and Fair Play: Reading Genre in Classic Detective Fiction" by Marty Roth. College Literature, Oct 1996.

Reid, Robin Anne. "The Centenary Caper: Casing Two Competing Schools of Detective Fiction." Contrasts "cozy" and "hard-boiled" detective fiction [and Dorothy Sayers]. First page of article only. Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature, 46 (1992).

Riley, James. 'As if there were anywhere to go': The Lack of Transcendence in the Noir Fiction of Dashiell Hammett and David Goodis. At crimeculture.com, Autumn 2004.

Thompson, George J. Publisher's site for Hammett's Moral Vision (Vince Emery Books 2007).

Walker, John. "City jungles and expressionist reifications from Brecht to Hammett [and Bertolt Brecht]." Twentieth Century Literature, Spring 1998.

Introduction, lighter reading, web sites

The Maltese Falcon. Selected for "The Big Read," Erika Koss, editor. Contents: Readers Guide contains Introduction, Historical Context, About the Author, Other Works/Adaptations, Discussion Questions, Bibliography; Teacher's Guide contains Schedule/Lesson Plans, Capstone Project Ideas, Essay Topics; and an audio radio program. National Endowment for the Arts.

Layman, Richard. "Hammett's Maltese Falcon, 75 Years Later." In an interview, Layman notes that John Huston's version is one of the few times when a great American novel became a great movie. National Public Radio, 3 April 2007.

Geringer, Joseph. "Allan Pinkerton and His Detective Agency: We Never Sleep." Court TV.

"Dashiell Hammett: Let's Talk About the Black Bird." A feature on Dashiell Hammett in January Magazine, includes comments from Richard Layman and many additional tributes.

Reading group guide for The Maltese Falcon, from Random House.

Web site for Dashiell Hammett includes short plot summaries and a biography, from Random House.

An introduction to Dashiell Hammett from the PBS "American Masters" series.

"Before The Thin Man," summarizes Hammett's writing career, in Salon, 4/17/00. By Dick Lochte.

"Dashiell Hammett's legacy lies not only in his writing, but in his living -- rough, wild and on the edge." Newspaper article in the San Francisco Chronicle, 2/7/05.

On the influence of Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest on Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, the influence of both films on Last Man Standing (1996), and legal wrangling. Newspaper article in Metroactive, 9/26/96.

"Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon turns 75." Alexis Soloski, Village Voice, 1/27/05.

"The king of pulp: Where would action cinema be without Dashiell Hammett?" Newspaper article, Seattle Weekly, 12/5/01.

On the French writer Andre Gide, who mentions his admiration for Hammett. Time magazine, 3/6/44.

Libraries, Bibliography

Metress, Christopher, ed. The Critical Response to Dashiell Hammett (Greenwood Press 1994), publisher's web site with list of chapters.

"Hardboiled Maryland." An electronic exhibit on the works of Dashiell Hammett and other hard-boiled fiction writers, at the U of Maryland.

Information on the Dashiell Hammett papers at the U of Texas Austin.

Removed Articles

http://www.bcl-manly.com/hammett.pdf Dictionary of Literary Biography entry on Dashiell Hammett (removed).

http://www.immortalgame.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=DashiellHammett.891PostStreet Photos of 891 Post Street in San Francisco, where Dashiell Hammett lived when he wrote his first three novels (removed).

Harris, Martin. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3768/is_200607/ai_n17220757 "Hammett's Flitcraft Parable, The Stepfather, and the Significance of Falling Beams." Literature Film Quarterly, 2006 (removed).

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