Download or read book Social criticism in Dashiell Hammett s Red Harvest and The Maltese Falcon written by Ole Wagner and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2008-03-26 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Heidelberg (Anglistisches Seminar ), course: Twentieth Century Crime Fiction, language: English, abstract: This essay will explore how social criticism is performed in two novels of Dashiell Hammett. Red Harvest is often described as “the first hard-boiled novel”, giving it the status of a literary landmark. Here the author gives us a clear impression of his characteristic world and his social vision of it. Therefore, the novel appears to be an interesting subject to look how this kind of literature employs social criticism. The other book that will be examined here is The Maltese Falcon, one of the most popular and best known hard-boiled crime novels ever, that has served as a model for many authors. As Robert Shulman argues, Hammet gives his “social vision its fullest expression” in this novel, showing “his concern with American individualism”. Thus, as this examination is limited to two works, it seems most sensible to use The Maltese Falcon along with Red Harvest for this purpose to produce a good insight into the social criticism in Hammett’s books. Before beginning with the study, it is necessary to make clear what ‘social criticism’ is here, as the term itself has a wide meaning. ‘Social’ will be discussed in the sense, as the Merriam-Webster dictionary puts it, “of or relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society”. This means that in a smaller sense, the term ‘social’ concerns the way the individuals, the characters of the novels, deal with each other, and, in a larger sense, how the society is organized and how its institutions treat the individual and the group, which also brings economic and political components into the scope of the study. The Maltese Falcon and Red Harvest are particularly well suited for such a study, as they both use distinct, in some points different, in some points similar ways to criticize. They also provide a look at different issues, therefore the essay will be able to cover a greater area combining the research results from the two novels. First, the essay will focus on the wider relations in society, the political and economical and the legal. Then, the individual relations among the characters and the criticism of them will be observed. Later, this work will also explore how the society influences the individual – here the hero – in his actions.
Download or read book Social Criticism in Dashiell Hammett s Red Harvest and the Maltese Falcon written by Ole Wagner and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2008-04 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Heidelberg (Anglistisches Seminar ), course: Twentieth Century Crime Fiction, 12 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: This essay will explore how social criticism is performed in two novels of Dashiell Hammett. Red Harvest is often described as "the first hard-boiled novel", giving it the status of a literary landmark. Here the author gives us a clear impression of his characteristic world and his social vision of it. Therefore, the novel appears to be an interesting subject to look how this kind of literature employs social criticism. The other book that will be examined here is The Maltese Falcon, one of the most popular and best known hard-boiled crime novels ever, that has served as a model for many authors. As Robert Shulman argues, Hammet gives his "social vision its fullest expression" in this novel, showing "his concern with American individualism". Thus, as this examination is limited to two works, it seems most sensible to use The Maltese Falcon along with Red Harvest for this purpose to produce a good insight into the social criticism in Hammett's books. Before beginning with the study, it is necessary to make clear what 'social criticism' is here, as the term itself has a wide meaning. 'Social' will be discussed in the sense, as the Merriam-Webster dictionary puts it, "of or relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society". This means that in a smaller sense, the term 'social' concerns the way the individuals, the characters of the novels, deal with each other, and, in a larger sense, how the society is organized and how its institutions treat the individual and the group, which also brings economic and political components into the scope of the study. The Maltese Falcon and Red Harvest are particularly well suited for suc
Download or read book The Critical Response to Dashiell Hammett written by Christop Metress and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1994-12-30 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As one of the most popular American writers of detective fiction, Dashiell Hammett has drawn a diverse range of criticism. The author of The Dain Curse, The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, and other works, Hammett is now receiving additional attention from scholars who seek to reassess his writing. Spanning more than sixty years of critical response, this volume includes reviews of Hammett's novels from the 1920s and 1930s, as well as recent scholarly essays.
Download or read book Red Harvest written by Dashiell Hammett and published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. This book was released on 2010-12-29 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The steadfast and sturdy Continental Op has been summoned to the town of Personville—known as Poisonville—a dusty mining community splintered by competing factions of gangsters and petty criminals. The Op has been hired by Donald Willsson, publisher of the local newspaper, who gave little indication about the reason for the visit. No sooner does the Op arrive, than the body count begins to climb . . . starting with his client. With this last honest citizen of Poisonville murdered, the Op decides to stay on and force a reckoning—even if that means taking on an entire town. Red Harvest is more than a superb crime novel: it is a classic exploration of corruption and violence in the American grain.
Download or read book The American Roman Noir written by William Marling and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 1998-10-01 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The American Roman Noir, William Marling reads classic hard-boiled fiction and film in the contexts of narrative theories and American social and cultural history. His search for the origins of the dark narratives that emerged during the 1920s and 1930s leads to a sweeping critique of Jazz-Age and Depression-era culture. Integrating economic history, biography, consumer product design, narrative analysis, and film scholarship, Marling makes new connections between events of the 1920s and 1930s and the modes, styles, and genres of their representation. At the center of Marling's approach is the concept of "prodigality": how narrative represents having, and having had, too much. Never before in the country, he argues, did wealth impinge on the national conscience as in the 1920s, and never was such conscience so sharply rebuked as in the 1930s. What, asks Marling, were the paradigms that explained accumulation and windfall, waste and failure? Marling first establishes a theoretical and historical context for the notion of prodigality. Among the topics he discusses are such watershed events as the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti and the premiere of the first sound movie, The Jazz Singer; technology's alteration of Americans' perceptive and figurative habits; and the shift from synecdochical to metonymical values entailed by a consumer society. Marling then considers six noir classics, relating them to their authors' own lives and to the milieu of prodigality that produced them and which they sought to explain: Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest and The Maltese Falcon, James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity, and Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep and Farewell My Lovely. Reading these narratives first as novels, then as films, Marling shows how they employed the prodigality fabula's variations and ancillary value systems to help Americans adapt--for better or worse--to a society driven by economic and technological forces beyond their control.
Download or read book The Maltese Falcon written by Dashiell Hammett and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2015-09-08 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most influential mystery novels ever written, and the only one to star the legendary and iconic Sam Spade. When Spade’s partner is killed on what appears to be a routine case, Spade is drawn into the search for a mysterious, valuable object known as the Maltese Falcon, and must contend with the eclectic criminals looking for it, any of which would happily kill Spade (or each other), or use him for their own ends. It has been adapted for film three times, most famously starring Humphrey Bogart. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Download or read book The Dain Curse written by Dashiell Hammett and published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. This book was released on 2011-02-23 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When eight diamonds are stolen from a prominent San Francisco family, the Continental Op is called in to investigate. But the missing jewels aren’t the only thing out of the ordinary. The man who reported the burglary ends up dead, ostensibly a suicide. His daughter, one of the suspects, Miss Gabrielle Dain Leggett, has a penchant for morphine and religious cults. She also has an unfortunate effect on the people around her: they have a habit of dying. Might Gabrielle be the victim of an arcane family curse? Or is the truth about her stranger and even more dangerous? The Dain Curse is one of the Continental Op’s most bizarre cases and a tautly crafted masterpiece of suspense.
Download or read book The Tenth Clew written by Dashiell Hammett and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-08-27 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a tip of the hat to Sherlock Holmes, the Continental Op finds nine seemingly innocuous and unconnected items left as clues in a murder case. But this is San Francisco, not London, and the Op knows that the only thing he needs to crack a case is his own gut. HarperCollins brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperCollins short-stories collection to build your digital library.
Download or read book Spade Archer written by Joe Gores and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2009-02-10 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wonderfully dark, pitch-perfect noir prequel to The Maltese Falcon, featuring Dashiell Hammett’s beloved detective, Sam Spade. It’s 1921—seven years before Sam Spade will solve the famous case of the Maltese Falcon. He’s just set up his own agency in San Francisco and he gets off to a quick start, working cases (he doesn’t do domestic) and hiring a bright young secretary named Effie Perrine. When he’s hired by a prominent San Francisco banker to find his missing son, Spade gets the break he’s been looking for. He spends the next few years dealing with booze runners, waterfront thugs, banking swindlers, gold smugglers, and bumbling cops. He brings in Miles Archer as a partner to help bolster the agency, though it was Archer who stole his girl while he was fighting in World War I. All along, Spade will tangle with an enigmatic villain who holds a long-standing grudge against Spade. And, of course, he’ll fall in love—though it won’t turn out for the best. It never does with dames.
Download or read book The Thin Man written by Dashiell Hammett and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2023-02-21 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Thin Man (1934) is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, made famouos by the series of movies based on it starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. The story is set in New York City during the Christmas season of 1932, in the last days of Prohibition in the United States. Nick Charles, a retired private detective, and Nora, his socialite wife, become embroiled in a mystery.
Download or read book The Glass Key written by Dashiell Hammett and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The Glass Key' by Dashiell Hammett is a gripping tale of loyalty, betrayal, and political intrigue. Ned Beaumont, a trusted advisor to the powerful political boss Paul Madvig, becomes entangled in a murder investigation when he discovers the body of a senator's son. As Ned delves deeper into the case, he faces danger, deceit, and a web of secrets that threatens to destroy everything he holds dear. With unexpected alliances and shocking revelations, Ned must navigate a treacherous world to uncover the truth and bring justice to those responsible.
Download or read book Twentieth century Crime Fiction written by Lee Horsley and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2005 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twentieth-Century Crime Fiction aims to enhance understanding of one of the most popular forms of genre fiction by examining a wide variety of the detective and crime fiction produced in Britain and America during the twentieth century. It will be of interest to anyone who enjoys reading crime fiction but is specifically designed with the needs of students in mind. It introduces different theoretical approaches to crime fiction (e.g., formalist, historicist, psychoanalytic, postcolonial, feminist) and will be a useful supplement to a range of crime fiction courses, whether they focus on historical contexts, ideological shifts, the emergence of sub-genres, or the application of critical theories. Forty-seven widely available stories and novels are chosen for detailed discussion. In seeking to illuminate the relationship between different phases of generic development Lee Horsley employs an overlapping historical framework, with sections doubling back chronologically in order to explore the extent to which successive transformations have their roots within the earlier phases of crime writing, as well as responding in complex ways to the preoccupations and anxieties of their own eras. The first part of the study considers the nature and evolution of the main sub-genres of crime fiction: the classic and hard-boiled strands of detective fiction, the non-investigative crime novel (centered on transgressors or victims), and the "mixed" form of the police procedural. The second half of the study examines the ways in which writers have used crime fiction as a vehicle for socio-political critique. These chapters consider the evolution of committed, oppositional strategies, tracing the development of politicized detective and crime fiction, from Depression-era protests against economic injustice to more recent decades which have seen writers launching protests against ecological crimes, rampant consumerism, Reaganomics, racism, and sexism.
Download or read book The Hunter and Other Stories written by Dashiell Hammett and published by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.. This book was released on 2013-11-04 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An anthology of eighteen short stories includes a number of previously unpublished pieces as well as early screen treatments for "On the Make" and "The Kiss-Off."
Download or read book Hammett Unwritten written by Owen Fitzstephen and published by Seventh Street Books. This book was released on 2013-02-12 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A worthless bird statuette -- the focus of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. And much more. As Dashiell Hammett closes his final case as a private eye, the details of which will later inspire his most famous book, he acquires at a police auction the bogus object of that case, an obsidian falcon statuette. He casually sets the memento on his desk, where for a decade it bears witness to his literary rise. Until he gives it away. Now, suffering writer’s block, the famous author begins to wonder about rumors of the falcon’s “metaphysical qualities,” which link it to a powerful, wish-fulfilling black stone cited in legends from around the world. He can’t deny that when he possessed the statuette he wrote one acclaimed book after another, and that without it his fortunes have changed. As his block stretches from months to years, he becomes entangled again with the scam artists from the old case, each still fascinated by the “real” black bird and its alleged talismanic power. A dangerous maze of events takes Hammett from 1930s San Francisco to the glamorous Hollywood of the 1940s, a federal penitentiary at the time of the McCarthy hearings, and finally to a fateful meeting on New Year’s Eve, 1959, at a Long Island estate. There the dying Hammett confronts a woman from his past who proves to be his most formidable rival. And his last hope.
Download or read book Individualism Old and New written by John Dewey and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2009-12-02 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America''s most renowned social philosopher John Dewey shines his powerful intellect on the serious public and cultural issues surrounding the place of the individual in a technologically advanced society. In this penetrating study, he addresses the fear that personal creative potential will be trampled by assembly-line monotony, political bureaucracy, and an industrialized culture of uniformity. Armed with his pragmatic approach and his belief in the power of critical intelligence, Dewey argues that individualism has in fact been offered a uniquely higher plane of technological development upon which to grow, mature, and redefine itself.
Download or read book The Dain Curse written by Dashiell Hammett and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The nameless detective known only as the Continental Op is tasked with investigating the theft of diamonds from the Leggets, who have ties to the Dain family – a family that is said to be plagued by a terrible curse that leads those near them to gruesome deaths. The Op will have to solve the mysteries behind lies, murders, and even a cult if he’s going to get to the heart of the matter. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Download or read book The Continental Op 1923 written by Dashiell Hammett and published by www.PulpFictionBook.Store. This book was released on 2023-11-07 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first five Continental Op stories, written in 1923 by Dashiell Hammett and published in The Black Mask magazine.Written in first person, these are the stories of an unnamed operative for the Continental Detective Agency. The operative deals with the gamut of human crime and cruelty. Arson Plus (1923) Crooked Souls (1923) Slippery Fingers (1923) Bodies Piled Up (1923) It (1923)
