Dashiell Hammett’s San Francisco:
A Unique Setting in the Changing World of Early 20th Century Detective Fiction
The Pacific coast port city of San Francisco, California provides a distinctively mysterious backdrop in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon. Unlike many other detective stories that are anchored in well-known metropolises such as Los Angeles or New York City, Hammett opted to place the events of his text in the lesser-known, yet similarly exotic cultural confines of San Francisco. Hammett used his own intricate knowledge of the San Francisco Bay Area - coupled with details collected during a stint as a detective for the now defunct Pinkerton Agency - to craft a distinctive brand of detective fiction that thrived on such an original setting (Paul 93). By examining the setting of 1920’s San Francisco in The Maltese Falcon, it becomes apparent that one of Hammett’s literary strengths was his exceptional ability to intertwine non-fictional places with a fictional plot and characters in order to produce a logical and exceedingly believable detective mystery.
Dashiell Hammett called the San Francisco area home from 1920 until 1936. For a portion of those fourteen years, he shared an apartment on Eddy Street with his first wife Josephine Dolan. This apartment was located very near the San Francisco Public Library on Larkin Street where in 1921 Hammett first conceived the idea of his writing detective fiction. San Francisco historian and author Don Freeman explains:
In the library he would read the magazines and the books and one day after reading several detective yarns he said, ‘I can do that.’ The truth is, he could. And he did. He wrote for Black Mask, a pulp detective magazine, and then as his skills increased he began to write novels. It was in this library that Dashiell Hammett saw his future. (79)
Hammett contributed stories to Black Mask for ten years until The Maltese Falcon gained public and literary acclaim. Many of the stories that Hammett penned for Black Mask were set in San Francisco, as the city provided him with a unique atmosphere in which to observe and record different cultures, norms, and fads. In the 1920’s, San Francisco was thought of as an exotic melting pot of culture that was rivaled only by its eastern cultural counterpart of New York City. Therefore, it is no surprise that Hammett used San Francisco as the setting of The Maltese Falcon to further illustrate the exotic and striking nature of the plot and characters within the text (Dumenil 211).
The World Fair of 1933 brought promise of new hope and pride for the representation of Chicago, America. As Daniel Burnham built and protected America’s image through the pristine face of the fair, underlying corruption and social pollution concealed themselves beneath Chicago’s newly artificial perfection. Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City meshes two vastly different stories within 19th century America and creates a symbolic narrative about the maturing of early Chicago.
Larson begins his novel “The Devil in the White City” by setting the stage, mentioning the events and people who made the fair so great. But simultaneously Larson hints at the evil lurking in the shadows. Although the reader is not fully aware of the dual nature of the human condition till Holmes’s big unveil. Larson describes Holmes as “a murderer that had moved among the beautiful things Burnham had created” (Larson 6). Chicagoans were startled by how such gruesome acts could go unnoticed for so long. The juxtaposition of...
In 2013, just shy of my 17th birthday, I planned a day trip with two of my friends to see The Phantom of the Opera in New York. At this point in my life, I was entirely unaccustomed to large cities, such as New York City, and felt excited to experience the bustle I expected. While in the city, a woman informed me about methods to avoid the crime so intertwined with life in the city and introduced me to the concept that, just as New York City held many attractions for tourists, it also held some dangers as well. This idea takes pride of place in Edward Jones’ short story, “Young Lions” and its discussion of Caesar Matthews. As I learned a few years ago, the city truly contains amazement for those experiencing it, but, like all things in life,
The story line of Red Harvest is riddled with double-crossing characters, bootleggers and crooked authority figures that obviously challenge universal moral codes of conduct. More importantly, some characters remain more morally ambivalent then others. Although, this is a troupe of hardboiled detective novels from the time, and the Film Noir genre where nothing is as it seems, there are particular characters and events that stand out. The language and situations are so double sided that the reader is forced to question the weave of their own moral fabric. Dashiell Hammett through his writing style is able to reflect on the concerns many had at the time regarding rise in crime and deterioration of Victorian age morals, coincided with the rise of the detective Anti-hero, guilty woman (femme fatal) and vigilantism.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” utilize character responsibilities to create a sinister plot. For Hawthorne, protagonist Young Goodman Brown must leave his wife at home while he partakes in a night journey. For Poe, ancillary Fortunato covets a pretentious manner towards his wine tasting skills, and after being ‘challenged’ decides to prove his expertise by sampling Amontillado. Hawthorne and Poe showcase a theme of darkness but differ in their approach to the setting, characters, and fate of entrapment.
The birth of classic detective fiction was originated just in the mid nineteenth century, and was producing its own genre. Classical detective fiction follows a set of rules called the ‘Ten commandments of detective fiction’. The genre is so popular it can bee seen by the number of sales in any good book stores. Many of these books have been created a long time ago and there is still a demand for these types of books. The popularity is still ongoing because it provides constant entertainment, and also the reader can also have a role of detective trying to solve the crime/case committed. Classical detective fiction has a formula, the detective story starts with a seemingly irresolvable mystery, typically a murder, features the astute, often unconventional detective, a wrongly accused suspect to whom the circumstantial evidence points, and concludes with a startling or unexpected solution to the mystery, during which the detective explains how he or she solved the mystery. Formula that includes certain elements such as, a closed location to keep the number of suspects down, red hearings spread around the stories to keep the reader entertained yet interacted.
...lackmail case, as well as what enabled Oedipa to discover and make sense of the posthorn, the W.A.S.T.E. system, and the Trystero. If Oedipa had never wrote down the posthorn and the acronym W.A.S.T.E while at The Scope or had never attended The Courier’s Tragedy with Metzger, she would have never noticed Koteks and probably wouldn’t have thought twice about the word Trystero. If Detective Marlowe had never camped outside of Geiger’s house that fateful, rainy night, he would have never of heard the flash, scream, or gunshots that led him to Carmen Sternwood and Geiger’s body. Unlike the cowboys of the New West where instant gratification was usually attainable through a physical means, Noir cowboys usually undergo an “investigation” of some sorts, unable to achieve gratification until days, months, or even years after the initial introduction of the conflict.
Elia Kazan’s film, On the Waterfront, demonstrates the complicated life of washed up ex-boxer, Terry Malloy, and his fight against the organized crime conglomerate that controls the shipping docks of Hoboken, New Jersey. The specific elements within the film, such as supporting characters, surrounding environment, and outfit selection are carefully utilized in order to constantly support Terry’s self-perception as the plot develops. The 1954 film On The Waterfront, demonstrates the reoccurring theme of importance of individual integrity in a corrupt society through character development, narrative structure, and costume employed through mise-en-scéne.
The idea of a detective catching an elusive convict or solving an improbable crime has been prevalent in all corners of the world, spread throughout many cultures and societies. The detective genre is held as the idea that an individual has to solve a crime. This detective usually has nothing to gain from solving the crime, but they see it more as an obstacle. The detective doesn’t always take every case, as human beings, we are too often curious of the impossible; our natural instinct is to question why and how things work in this world. People crave mystery, to taste a bit of improbable, to see what the detectives see, to see what is overlooked by many. The idea of an intelligent witty, sharp “sleuth” with an obedient sidekick has been prevalent
I’ve just finished the classic noir film “The Maltese Falcon”. PI Sam Spade is given what seemed to be a regular everyday investigation by a woman by the name of Ruth to find out what happened to her sister. The investigation turns into a tornado of accusations when Sam’s partner and the man that Ruth’s sister was with both get killed by an unknown suspect.
The Maltese Falcon and Sherlock, A Study In Pink are indeed very different detective films. The Maltese Falcon came out in 1941 in the classic black and white. The use of rotary phones, elaborate fur scarves, classic fedoras and oversized trench coats dated the film to the fullest degree. Sherlock a BBC series that commenced airing in 2010, made use of special effects, it truly was a modernized film. In contrast to the rotary phones, the characters in Sherlock utilized cellphones and had the internet to aid in solving mysteries. In addition, to the obvious visible differences between the films, the characters, Sam Spade and Sherlock Holmes had many distinctive qualities.
The conventions of any genre give them their distinctive characteristics. In order to challenge these intrinsic conventions, it is necessary to manipulate certain elements to develop a unique text. Marele Day successfully manipulates the crime genre present a judicious alteration to conventional crime novels as evidenced by 'The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender'. By exploiting traditional conventions of character and story, Day challenges the archetypical conventions attributed to crime writing to present a detective thriller that challenges the crime genre.
Samuel Dashiell Hammett, better known as Dashiell Hammett, is widely recognized as the father of hard-boiled detective fiction. Dashiell Hammett was born on May 27, 1894 in St. Mary’s County, Maryland; however, his family moved to Baltimore when he was seven years old. There, he attended Public School No. 72 in his elementary years. Although Mr. Hammett quit school at the age of thirteen to begin working, he studied at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute prior to this resignation. During his young adulthood, at the age of twenty-seven, Dashiell Hammett was hospitalized with tuberculosis. It was through this agonizing experience that he met his future wife, Josephine Dolan; however, their relationship ended in turmoil when Ms. Dolan demanded a divorce in 1937. Throughout
To most the detective fiction genre is considered to be “new.” Marking its inception with Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue in 1841, classifying Poe as the “undisputed father” of crime fiction (Butler). However, Poe is not the creator of the detective fiction genre, and in fact this type of literature can be seen centuries before in Old Testament writings. These writings include “Susanna and the Elders” and “Bel and the Priests,” as well as Greek writings like “Hercules and Cacus” and “King Rhampsinitus and The Thief”(Scaggs 19). Together, these literary pieces have had an ever-lasting influence on crime fiction, and substantiate the fact that Poe was in no way the originator of this genre.
I will be explaining why the literary work; “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” captured my interest. Literary work is using the imagination or creative thinking. I will be using terms and concepts from the text to support my explanation. I will describe one of the analytical approaches outlined in Chapter 16 of my text, using details from the text to support my interpretations and evaluate the meaning of the” Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, using the analytical approach I described.