Detective fiction has never received its due respect as an intelligent literary genre, but the works of Dashiell Hammett command a great appreciation given the author's abrupt narrative voice and intensely complex characters. From the hard-as-nails criminals, to the supremely deadly vixens, right down to the jaded detective who chases them all, Hammett's seemingly simple characters develop so completely that they practically beg to be studied by psychology enthusiasts. Perhaps Hammett's keen mind for detective fiction is due to the fact that his art most definitely imitated his life.
Walking the Walk
After quitting school at the age of 13 and working a variety of odd-jobs to help support his family, Hammett finally found an intriguing career when he was 21 by joining the Baltimore branch of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in 1915. Hammett worked as a detective on and off for eight years, and is reputed to have had some truly wild experiences in the field.
Within a few years, however, Hammett's life would change drastically. After a brief stint in the army, Hammett was given a medical discharge after contracting tuberculosis during service. He met and married a nurse he met while receiving treatment, and they settled in San Francisco. By the age of 28, Hammett had published his first of many short stories, and worked for the pulp magazine Black Mask.
Red Harvest, Hammett's first novel, was published in 1929 and introduces the reader to an action-packed seedy world of murder and power that the slick-talking, nameless, Continental Op Detective must navigate within. In 1930, Hammett's best-known novel The Maltese Falcon was published, and continued to push the hard-boiled genre into exciting territory. Another popular novel, The Thin Man, was released in 1934 and was immediately made into a movie starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as the charming Nick and Nora Charles. By the time The Maltese Falcon became a major motion picture starring Humphrey Bogart in 1941, Hammett's writing career had slowed down significantly.
In the early 1930s, Hammett began a relationship with 24-year-old aspiring playwright Lillian Hellman, who would remain his companion for the rest of his life. The pair became involved in numerous leftist political causes during a time when it was very dangerous to do so, and Hammett even served jail time in 1951 after refusing to testify against known communists.
Dashiell Hammett died from lung cancer on January 10, 1961 at the age of 67. Hammett helped shape and influence the entire private detective/murder mystery genre, similar to how his early career with the Pinkertons influenced his stories which explode off the page with noir dynamite.
Sources
- This Day in History. Dashiell Hammett dies. Accessed January 9, 2012.
- The Thrilling Detective Web Site. Dashiell Hammett. Accessed January 9, 2012.
- Mystery Net. Dashiell Hammett. Accessed January 9, 2012.
Alexis J Hyatt - Alexis Hyatt is a Buffalo-based writer who investigates the social, environmental, and cultural issues of the day.
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