Modern Library Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century (56)
In a typical half-way step, the critics were honest enough to put it
on the list, but probably hesitant to put a pulp fiction too high.
I believe it is very nearly perfect, and may well belong in the Top 10.
The Private Eye (like the Old West gunslinger before him) is a quintessential
American hero. A lone man, bound by an incorruptible personal code
of morals, who gets drawn into tangled situations where only he can restore
order. As the archetypal P.I. novel then, The Maltese Falcon
owns a special place in American Literature.
One interesting sidelight to the novel is to compare the final confrontation
between Sam Spade & Brigid O'Shaughnessy to Hammett's own showdown
with HUAC in the 1950's. Spade refuses to "play the sap", why did
Hammett decide to be a sap for the Communists and his despicable lover,
Lillian Hellman?
(Reviewed:)
Grade: (A+)
Websites:
Book-related and General Links:
-Dashiell
Hammett (1894-1961) (kirjasto)
-ENCYCLOPAEDIA
BRITANNICA : "dashiell hammett"
-GRAVE
: Samuel Dashiell Hammett, Sergeant, United States Army (Arlington
Cemetery)
-Dashiell
Hammett (A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection Home Page)
-Authors
and Creators : Dashiell Hammett Also wrote as Peter Collinson, Daghull
Hammett, Samuel Dashiell, Mary Jane Hammett (1894-1961) (Thrilling Detective)
-(Samuel)
Dashiell Hammett (Rara-Avis)
-Mystery
Net : Mystery Greats : Dashiell Hammett
-American
Masters - Dashiell Hammett. Detective. Writer (PBS)
-DASHIELL
HAMMETT (Stop You're Killing Me)
-Dashiell
Hammett (Noir)
-Dashiell
Hammett : A Pioneer of Noir
-Dashiell
Hammett (Spartacus)
-Dashiell
Hammett's San Francisco
-The
Continental Detective Agency : Dashiell Hammett: biography, books
and more...
-Continental
Op Page
-The
Maltese Falcon FAQ
-Notes
on Dashiell Hammett Fiction (Richard M Heli)
-ARTWORK:
Dashiell Hammett in the Dell 'map-backs'
-LINKS
: The Hammett-List WWW Page
-READING
GROUP GUIDE : The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (Random
House)
-ESSAY
: Literary leftovers : Does even the most devoted fan really want to
scrape the bottom of Dashiell Hammett's desk drawer? (David Bowman, Salon)
-ESSAY
: Genesis: Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon Chapter Two
of Feminine Transgression and the Hypermasculine Response in the American
Hard-Boiled Novel (Don Haynes)
-ESSAY
: Hammett Dash A walking 'Jeopardy' question conducts his essential
literary walking tour (Dara Colwell, Metro Active Books)
-ESSAY
: Before "The Thin Man" : However legendary their romance, Dashiell
Hammett did his best work before he met Lillian Hellman (Dick Lochte, salon)
-ESSAY:
CRIME IN EVERY HAMLET (Marilyn Stasio, NY Times Book Review)
-ARCHIVES
: "dashiell hammett (NY Review of Books)
-REVIEW:
of Woman in the Dark A Novel of Dangerous Romance By Dashiell Hammett
(NEWGATE CALLENDAR, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of DASHIELL HAMMETT A Life. By Diane Johnson (George Stade, NY Times
Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of DASHIELL HAMMETT. A Life. By Diane Johnson (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt,
NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of HAMMETT, A Life at the Edge. By William F. Nolan (Julian Symon,
NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of HELLMAN AND HAMMETT The Legendary Passion of Lillian Hellman and
Dashiell Hammett. By Joan Mellen (Terry Teachout, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of SHADOW MAN. The Life of Dashiell Hammett. By Richard Laman
(John Leonard, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of Double Lives Spies and Writers in the Secret Soviet War of Ideas
Against the West By Stephen Koch (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, NY Times)
LILLIAN HELLMAN:
-OBIT:
LILLIAN HELLMAN, PLAYWRIGHT, AUTHOR AND REBEL, DIES AT 79 (NY
Times)
-REVIEW:
of LILLIAN HELLMAN The Image, the Woman. By William Wright (Frank Rich,
NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of LILLIAN HELLMAN Her Legend and Her Legacy. By Carl Rollyson (Helen
Dudar, NY Times Book Review)
FILM:
-INFO
: Dashiell Hammett (imdb)
GENERAL:
-Hard Boiled
Noir Webring
-Film
Noir & Pulp Fiction
-Twists,
Slugs and Roscoes: A Glossary of Hardboiled Slang
-Hard
Boiled Writing from a Private Eye (A Conversation with Steven Marcus)
If you liked The Maltese Falcon, try:
MacDonald, Ross
(Lew Archer Mysteries)
-Black
Money
-The
Chill
-The
Drowning Pool
-The
Far Side of the Dollar
-The
Galton Case (Read
Orrin's review)
-The
Moving Target
-The
Underground Man
-The
Wycherly Woman
-The
Zebra-Striped Hearse
-Sleeping
Beauty
Comments:
Orrin welcomes reader comments on his reviews.
Add yours here.
You're right on the mark here! The Maltese Falcon is a classic. One of the finest ever written.
- K.A.
- Feb-13-2004, 07:11
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