The Great Authors: Dashiell Hammet!

Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) was one of the great writers of the 20th century, but he literally quit writing in 1934 and not another peep was heard from him after The Thin Man. It's a bit of a tragedy. But we are left with a few novels and a number of short stories and novellas all of which are classics and figured large in the establishment of the hardboiled genre. While other great writers like Hemingway and Fitzgerald were mapping all sorts of idealistic and romantic post WWI territory, Hammet characters were mapping out escape routes. See, Hammett was in the here and now, and playing crime like it was laying. A former Pinkerton agent, Hammett had a keen insight into the detective biz, and for the first time presented it broads, blood, thugs, slugs and all. You want to read all of this stuff. You need to know all about the Continental Op, Sam Spade and Nick and Nora Charles. You need to know how they dealt with some of the greatest villains in literature, and you pretty much need to start now. Dig?