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DASHIELL HAMMETT
Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961)- First writing
fiction under the pseudonym Peter Collinson, Hammett helped introduce realism
into detective stories. Most famous for The Maltese Falcon (1930), which
introduced detective Sam Spade, his novels showed an
America
where greed, brutality, and treachery were the driving forces behind human
actions. The magazine Black Mask published his first short story, and he
soon became one of their most popular writers. The success of The Maltese
Falcon was soon followed by The Glass Key (1931) and The Thin Man (1934).
In 1934 he helped write the screenplay adaptation of Watch on Rhine, by
Lillian Hellman, his companion during the 1930’s. During this period he became
politically active, joining the Communist Party and speaking out against Nazism.
He was later targeted by McCarthy’s anti-communism crusade, blacklisted, and
imprisoned for five months. Ill most of his life, he died, penniless, of lung
cancer in 1961.
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