Sinda Gregory

Gregory examines each of Hammett's novels--Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Maltese Falcon, The Glass Key, and The Thin Man--interms of their form and theme to make clear their twofold appeal. She shows that they succeed not only as popular fiction but as literature. Through literary analysis she shows that within each of his works there are intri­cate literary strategies to be probed and analyzed symbolically, metaphysically, and metafictionally to yield the sharp vision we expect of art. His first novel, Red Harvest, provides an excellent example of his strategies. Filled with action, vivid characters, and remarkable colloquial dialogue, Red Har­vest is a study of personal systems, of ethical responsibility, of the individual's impotence against an overwhelming de­structiveness of corruption, chaos, and death; yet all of this is subtly woven into dramatic action that thrilled audiences of sensationalized fiction. This dual structure provides an on­going sense of revelation. Once a reader discerns that there is meaning beyond the action-filled maelstrom of motion and death that marks Hammett's works, a pattern of increasing complexity ap­pears. Thus not only is The Dain Curse an exciting story of murder and a family curse, it is a metafictional survey of detective fiction styles. Gregory shows that Hammett uses the conventions of detective fiction in this novel as a means of addressing epistemological issues that bring into question the basic premises of the genre. Indeed, in his most famous work, The Maltese Falcon, Hammett creates a work that is itself a testament to the unknowability of human conduct, for in it he manipulates details, charac­terization, and plot until the very con­cept of mystery emerges as the central point of the book. For Hammett the great­est mystery was always the complexities of human consciousness.

The Novels of Dashiell Hammett

Private Investigations

Larry McCaffery

Interviews with American Authors of the 1980s

Alive and Writing

Explains how Hammett changed the mystery genre, examines each of his novels, and discusses their style, point of view, and major themes

Raymond Carver

Ewing Campbell

"Perhaps the most significant and influential figure in this century's wave of American realism, Raymond Carver (1938-1988) is credited not only with reviving the short story as an artistically legitimate form, but also with perfecting minimalist fiction. His 1981 collection, What We Talk about When We Talk about Love, remains the standard against which minimalist literature is measured, and his numerous prize-winning and frequently anthologized stories have established him as the extender of a modernist tradition stretching from Chekhov through Joyce and Hemingway. In his later collections, such as Cathedral (1983) and Where I'm Calling From (1988), Carver surpasses even his own great achievement, setting a bold new path for his short fiction and intensifying the scholarly attention he'd first inspired with "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?" (anthologized in Best American Short Stories of 1967)." "Moving chronologically through Carver's complete short fiction canon and examining key stories in depth, Ewing Campbell traces the author's development through and beyond literary minimalism, into the tradition of tragic allegory. He explores Carvers persistent use of myth and archetype; motifs of the grotesque; religious iconography; and oppressed, spiritually paralyzed characters. From the earliest stories through the latest, Campbell illuminates Carvers constant fascination with the way individuals connect or fail to connect with one another."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Sinda Gregory

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