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Dashiell Hammett, public domain photo

Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961)


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


introduction & biography

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.

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

"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.

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

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

"Dashiell Hammett." PBS American Masters.

Horsley, L. "Dashiell Hammett." A substantial introduction to Dashiell Hammett, from the Literary Encyclopedia 20 Oct. 2001 [subscription service].

2015: Major Dashiell Hammett collection bought by the University of South Carolina


literary criticism

Freedman, Carl and Christopher Kendrick. "Forms of Labor in Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest." PMLA 106, 2 (March 1991) pp 209-21 [jstor].

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

Marcus, Steven. "Hard-Boiled Writing from a Private Eye." An interview with Professor Steven Marcus, editor of a new Library of America edition of Hammett's novels and stories, who talks about 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." The Western Historical Quarterly 6 (1975) [jstor].

Shulman, Robert. "Dashiell Hammett's Social Vision." The Centennial Review 29, 4 (FALL 1985) pp 400-19 [jstor].

Walker, John. "City jungles and expressionist reifications from Brecht to Hammett [and Bertolt Brecht]." Twentieth Century Literature 44, 1 (Spring 1998) [jstor].

Whitley, John S. "Stirring Things Up: Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op." Journal of American Studies 14, 3 (Dec. 1980) pp 443-55 [jstor].


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