About
Dashiell Hammett, born May 27, 1894, in Maryland and died January 10, 1961, in New York, was an American writer and pioneer of the hard-boiled detective novel. Leaving school early, he worked as a detective for the Pinkerton agency, an experience that informed his fiction. Mobilized during World War I, he contracted tuberculosis, which affected his health. Between 1929 and 1934, he published five major novels, including The Maltese Falcon, adapted into a film in 1941. Politically engaged, he was imprisoned in 1951 for refusing to testify before the McCarthy committee. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
* 1894-05-27 — † 1961-01-10
Major works
- Red Harvest (1929)novel
- The Dain Curse (1929)novel
- The Maltese Falcon (1930)novel
- The Glass Key (1931)novel
- The Thin Man (1934)novel
Key milestones
- 1915Joined the Pinkerton agency as a detective.
- 1941Film adaptation of The Maltese Falcon directed by John Huston.
- 1951Imprisoned for six months for refusing to name contributors to a bail fund.
Themes
Private detectiveCrime and corruptionUrban realismMoral ambiguityCynicism
Sources: britannica.com · oxfordreference.com · catdir.loc.gov