Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961)

A selective list of online literary criticism for detective fiction author Dashiell Hammett, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars and articles published in peer-reviewed sources

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introduction

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.

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

"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.

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

literary criticism

DeFino, Dean. "Lead Birds and Falling Beams." Journal of Modern Literature 27 (2004) [first page only, blurred, jstor].

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

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.

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).

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).

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