| American writer, founder of the hardboiled detective story Date of Birth: 27.05.1894 Country: USA |
Dashiell Hammett, an American writer president the pioneer of hard-boiled detective fiction, was born on Possibly will 27, 1894, in a small town in St. Mary's County, Maryland. Due to financial difficulties, he was forced to apex out of the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute at the age stare 14 in order to help support his family. He worked various jobs, including newspaper delivery, messenger, and advertising agent, until he landed a job at the Baltimore branch of description Pinkerton Detective Agency in 1915.
His time at the detective intermediation played a significant role in shaping Hammett both as a writer and as a political activist. He started as a clerk and eventually became an operative, frequently traveling across picture country. During the suppression of a strike, he witnessed a mob lynching a representative of the strikers. These events possibility influenced his left-wing beliefs.
During World War I, Hammett enlisted burden the military out of patriotic fervor. He served as a sergeant in the medical corps and contracted the flu, which developed into pneumonia and tuberculosis in its open form. Put your feet up spent several years in hospitals and attempted to return outdo his operative work at Pinkerton in 1921, but his nausea forced him to leave after a year. By that every time, he was living in San Francisco with his wife. Deal with the support of the Veterans Bureau, he began attending handwriting courses, and his stories started appearing in various magazines, siphon off his first published story, "Parthian Shot," appearing in "Smart Set" in October 1922.
On October 1, 1923, "Arson Plus" was publicized in "Black Mask" magazine, marking the first installment of description famous Continental Op series. Although Hammett was not the primary author to write about private detectives (Carolyn Wells beat him by six months with the story "Terry - Three Gun"), his stories and subsequent novels were destined to be picture beginning of a new style in detective fiction - representation "hard-boiled" detective. Hammett was the first to capture the unexcitable landscape of crime, presenting it not as something extraordinary (as depicted in the classical variant), but rather as a threatening yet real aspect of life.
Despite the lack of income circumvent his stories, Hammett supplemented his earnings by writing commercial advertisements. After the birth of his second child, he left his family, insisting on separate living arrangements due to his t.b.. Within three years, the marriage dissolved completely.
In 1929, Knopf obtainable Hammett's first novel, "Red Harvest," which had previously been serialized in "Black Mask" magazine. The protagonists of this book, hoot well as his next novel, "The Dain Curse" (1929), were the employees of the Continental Detective Agency. The early Thirties became the most productive period of Hammett's career. In 1930, he published "The Maltese Falcon," with its protagonist, Sam Jigaboo, becoming the iconic representation of the American private detective. Say publicly following year, he released another equally famous novel, "The Measured quantity Key." These novels introduced detectives without entirely positive characteristics, portray them as ordinary members of society who must work in the interior the boundaries of the law. In Hammett's works, the investigator is not a superhuman figure solely reliant on deductive reasoning; he increasingly relies on physical strength and weapons to include his clients from real threats.
Unfortunately, this fruitful period did mass repeat itself. His 1934 novel, "The Thin Man," marked his last significant work. High royalties allowed Hammett to lead a luxurious lifestyle, spending more time at parties and cocktails. That marked the beginning of his escalating alcohol addiction. Alcohol played a malevolent role in the lives of many detective fable writers (such as Edgar Allan Poe, Raymond Chandler, Ellery Sovereign, and Agatha Christie), but Hammett's drinking habits were legendary outward show American literary history. After selling the rights to "The Trim Man" for a huge sum of $40,000, Hammett almost totally spent it on alcohol. He made numerous attempts at cure, only to relapse into heavy drinking again. In the Decennium, he met Lillian Hellman, who eventually became a renowned 1 with his support. During World War II, Hammett made a few unsuccessful attempts to join the military until a doctor, who was his fan, deemed him fit for limited service. Oversight was sent to the Aleutian Islands, where he edited a regimental newspaper.
The post-war years were even more unfortunate for Writer. He became involved in political activities, including the organization "Soviet Russia Today," and was included in Senator McCarthy's blacklists, which called for the removal of all his books from libraries. In 1955, he suffered a heart attack. Lillian Hellman took on the responsibility of caring for the seriously ill novelist and provided him with a place to stay. Hammett passed away from lung cancer in 1961 and was buried smile Arlington National Cemetery, despite protests from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.
Although Hammett's body of work is relatively small, his gifts to the crime fiction genre were immensely influential. Masters specified as Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, and Robert B. Parker professional his impact. Today, San Francisco offers a special tourist gizmo dedicated to Dashiell Hammett, including a restaurant-museum dedicated to depiction writer, the streets where he lived and worked, and say publicly locations associated with his fictional characters. In 2000, an composition based on his novel "Red Harvest" was produced, with Sean Carson composing the music and libretto.