November 2014: Dashiell Hammett

Well, it's officially November (even if I try to keep denying it's that late in the year already) so it's time for some Hammett!

I'm heading over to the library later and picking up The Thin Man.

What's everyone else reading this month?

I read Red Harvest earlier in the year and wasn't super impressed. But willing to give another go with The Maltese Falcon

Heh sorry for slacking here, thanks for getting the post up!

I randomly picked up The Maltese Falcon when it became available on Bookmooch, so I was excited to see the author read here. I am going to begin it tomorrow. This is not my usual genre at all, so I'm not sure what to expect.

The Thin Man
Finished reading: 16 November 2014



I am not very fond of reading detective novels, but only if they have some cult status such as Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, or, in this case Hammett's The Thin Man.

Supposedly, The Thin Man, published in 1935, is an early and original detective novel, largely laying down the muster for the genre. The novel is centred around six or seven characters, who all know each other well, as family members, friends and acquaintances. While suspicion about the murder first points at the Clyde Miller Wynant, readers nowadays more familiar with the genre would soon rule out that character as the most obvious usually is not the culprit.

The novel is written throughout in mostly dialogue, with very little telling. As a result, the reader is almost as completely in the dark as most of the characters, and starts theorizing about possible candidates and their motive for the murder, which quite obviously seems to be the money.

With the limited role of story-telling, the obvious strategy of the novel is that the only knowledge that is imparted in through the physical presence of the characters, in conversation. It gradually becomes obvious that one character only communicates through correspondance, i.e. letters and telegrams.

The Thin Man contains some references to the period it was written. Quite modern is the suggestion that "junkies" might be responsible for robbery; the etymology of the word "junkie" can be traced to its earliest use in that sense in 1923. It appears in the novel (page 60) along with the word "hop-head" to denote a drug addict, which also sprang up in the jazz era of the 1920/30s' America. Another interesting linguistic feature is the repeated use of the word "speakeasy" for bars during the Prohibition era, from 1920 - 1933 in the United States.

The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett was issued in the Penguin Essentials series in 2012, and it is considered a classic and must read, as such included on the 1001 list of novels one should read.

I just finished The Maltese Falcon this morning. This was one of my wild card choices for my fall reading, something I would not ordinarily read, and I had procured it from Bookmooch. I had read some mass market crime novels as a preteen, but had never really read any classics of the genre. It was entirely new to me.

I was surprised by Hammett's writing style. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the pulpy tone and description. The dialogue was fun. I didn't figure out all the details by the end, but had a general idea of who was to blame, and could feel equally surprised and smug when the twist was revealed. The noir atmosphere was tops.

For the first half of the book, I felt like I was waiting for the story to really "begin" or pick up. I am not sure if that was due to the book itself or if that's the genre in general. Did anyone else encounter this?

Well, my thought about The Maltese Falcon is that it's not structured like a typical detective novel. No one wants Sam to detect anything, he's there for manipulation only; to force others to come out into the open and make themselves vulnerable. If you compare with Hammet's Continental Ops novels, you'll see what I mean, or if you dip into the Marlowe novels by Chandler. In those there is a definite end game that is driven by the detective. In Falcon, Sam isn't in the driver's seat. Mostly it's Bridget and Gutman batting him back and forth. Does that make sense?

That totally makes sense. That really explains everything I was feeling. Since you mentioned the difference, I may have to check out the Continental Ops novels to get a more complete feeling of the genre.

I finished The Thin Man and loved it. Unlike Edwin, I have a fondness for mysteries - and old-fashioned hard-boiled ones at that - so I was already optimistic going into this book. I wasn't disappointed and thought Hammett did a great job with this novel. His writing style is sparse, but I enjoyed that and felt that he was excellent at making all the characters feel completely well-rounded and actualized without having to devotes scores of pages to lengthy descriptions of them. Years ago I read Lillian Hellman*'s memoir An Unfinished Woman in which she says Hammett told her that both the lovely Nora and the horrible Mimi were modeled after her. Talk about a backhanded compliment.

Although Hammett didn't write official sequel novels to The Thin Man, he did write follow-up screenplays for film adaptations. I found a book at my library titled The Return of the Thin Man, which packages up two of these along with some forewords/afterwords from a Hammett biographer and from Hammett's granddaughter. That's next on my list to read.

*Hellman and Hammett were romantically involved for several decades.

》I do not regret reading The Thin Man, but it confirmed me in my disinterest in the genre. However, had it not been for the Monthly Author Reads Group, I would not have picked it up at all. Some of the language of the book interested me, and the fact that The Thin Man was published so early, is kind of interesting. And I think it is always good to read something by as many authors as possible, especially if they are famous.

This month, I also bought Talking about Detective Fiction by P.D. James, who died last week. That is a work of literary criticism. I may read it in December or early next year.

>10 edwinbcn: The language certainly is interesting. It's sharp, it's fast, and at times it's a lot more modern than I think many would expect from a 1930s novel.

Better late than never. I just finished The Maltese Falcon. I had never read it before, but did see the movie a few times decades ago. Might have to watch it again. Every now and again a scene, or a few words in Bogie's voice would bubble up. Once about half a page before the words.

I enjoyed it. That makes sense as I don't usually like detective novels. My husband also has The Thin Man, but he said, 'You'll enjoy Maltese Falcon, but not The Thin Man.' I trust him on this.

I just watched the movie. Very close to the book.

I got the movie to compare, but I want to wait for my hubby to finish the book so we can watch it together. I did, however, scroll through it to get a sense of the aesthetic and see if it was similar to the book. It appears just as I imagined it, except for the lead actress.

I agree. And Mr. Gutman, while fat, isn't as grossly obese.

Finished up The Return of the Thin Man a while ago and was disappointed in it compared to how much I enjoyed The Thin Man itself. The screenplay aspect makes for a different writing style, which I found more dull than that of the original book. Also, it is written by Hammett along with the couple who adapted The Thin Man for the screen, so it has other influences going on. It wasn't horrible but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it either.