FratFiles

• Save Paper

The Maltese Falcon: The Film & Book

Dashiell Hammett was a prolific writer of short stories for the pulp magazines in the 1920s-1930s, but only wrote five mystery novels. Most of his works involved his anonymous detective The Continental Op, an employee of one of the big national detective agencies. Sam Spade became popular because of the movies, but didn't feature in much of this author's work. Hammett's greatest skill was his combination of terse presentation, witty dialogue, and a plain style, which is why Hammett is so well known now. It should be pointed out that he followed the proper conventions of the detective story in presenting complex crimes that can be solved by deduction from clues. He is considered the progenitor of the hard-boiled private eye novel, although this already existed in the pulps for which he was writing. What Hammett did do is raise the level of writing to the extent that it can be considered 'literature', making him one of the most influential......

View the rest of this paper...

Approximate Word Count: 1123
Approximate Pages: 5 (250 words per double-spaced page)

Similar Essays

1. Sam Spade
   

   sam spade The Maltese Falcon: The Film & Book Dashiell Hammett was a prolific writer of short stories for the pulp magazines in the 1920s-1930s, but only wrote five mystery

2. Sam Spade: Angel Or Demon?
   

   Sam Spade: Angel or Demon? Is Sam Spade a good man? I would tend to argue against it. A good man would be oriented toward helping others and his community. He would be mostly free

3. The Significance Of The Black Bird In Dashiell Hammett The Maltese...
   

   Hammet's The Maltese Falcon, the "black bird" serves as a crucial link connecting Sam Spade and Brigid O' Shaughnessy. The black bird functions as the structural bond of

4. Maltese Falcon
   

   Hammett takes place in the 1930s and has a variety of mysterious charactersincluding: Sam Spade, Brigid O'Shaughhnessy, Joel Cairo, Mr. Gutman, and Wilmer. When O'Shaughnessy

5. Maltese Falcon
   

   detective business. Her character as a woman is somewhat different from Effie's. Iva and Sam Spade once had a history together even though she was married to Miles. Iva said to