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A Life at the Edge by William F. Nolan
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First-edition hardcover in very good condition.
St. Martin's Press, 1990. 384 pages.
Fourteen years ago, William Nolan wrote the first book about Dashiell Hammett, the master of modern detective fiction, author of THE MALTESE FALCON, THE THIN MAN, and other classics of the genre. Mr. Nolan’s prize-winning book helped launch the serious study of Hammett as an important American novelist. Now, after years of delving, he offers a full biography. HAMMETT: A LIFE AT THE EDGE goes considerably beyond Lillian Hellman’s well-known accounts of her time with Hammett. From fresh sources it tells of his colorful early years, before Hellman, including his sleuthing days as a Pinkerton man assigned to famous cases such as the Fatty Arbuckle scandal. Drawing on a long interview with Hammett’s ex-wife, it depicts their love affair in an Army tubercular ward, their struggle to make ends meet, Hammett’s early attempts to find his vocation. Mr. Nolan chronicles Hammett’s development from a pulp magazine writer (for H.L. Mencken’s Black Mask magazine) to the foremost detective-story author of his time. He gives us Hammett’s wild years in literary New York and the Hollywood film world - the starlets, the drinking pals (Faulkner, Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur), the unpaid limo bills. He portrays the pyrotechnic yet sustaining relationship with Hellman, taking her perspectives into account but reaching out to those of others. The book discusses the Hammett myths - that he was a Communist. a dupe. that he abandoned his career. In fact, as Mr. Nolan shows, Hammett never ceased trying to finish another novel. From these pages comes an atmospheric portrait of turbulent times - the thirties, the forties, the sad and sinister fifties. Throughout, Dashiell Hammett is the benchmark of character—intensely honest, true to his vision, courageous as well as self-destructive. He emerges as not only a stunningly original writer but the personification of American individuality. WILLIAM F. NOLAN is the author of several biographies, novels (including LOGAN’S RUN), and other books, as well as many motion-picture and television screenplays. His DASHIELL HAMMETT: A CASEBOOK - called ‘authoritative and invaluable’ by the Los Angeles Times - won the Edgar Allan Poe Special Award.
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St. Martin's Press, 1990. 384 pages.
Fourteen years ago, William Nolan wrote the first book about Dashiell Hammett, the master of modern detective fiction, author of THE MALTESE FALCON, THE THIN MAN, and other classics of the genre. Mr. Nolan’s prize-winning book helped launch the serious study of Hammett as an important American novelist. Now, after years of delving, he offers a full biography. HAMMETT: A LIFE AT THE EDGE goes considerably beyond Lillian Hellman’s well-known accounts of her time with Hammett. From fresh sources it tells of his colorful early years, before Hellman, including his sleuthing days as a Pinkerton man assigned to famous cases such as the Fatty Arbuckle scandal. Drawing on a long interview with Hammett’s ex-wife, it depicts their love affair in an Army tubercular ward, their struggle to make ends meet, Hammett’s early attempts to find his vocation. Mr. Nolan chronicles Hammett’s development from a pulp magazine writer (for H.L. Mencken’s Black Mask magazine) to the foremost detective-story author of his time. He gives us Hammett’s wild years in literary New York and the Hollywood film world - the starlets, the drinking pals (Faulkner, Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur), the unpaid limo bills. He portrays the pyrotechnic yet sustaining relationship with Hellman, taking her perspectives into account but reaching out to those of others. The book discusses the Hammett myths - that he was a Communist. a dupe. that he abandoned his career. In fact, as Mr. Nolan shows, Hammett never ceased trying to finish another novel. From these pages comes an atmospheric portrait of turbulent times - the thirties, the forties, the sad and sinister fifties. Throughout, Dashiell Hammett is the benchmark of character—intensely honest, true to his vision, courageous as well as self-destructive. He emerges as not only a stunningly original writer but the personification of American individuality. WILLIAM F. NOLAN is the author of several biographies, novels (including LOGAN’S RUN), and other books, as well as many motion-picture and television screenplays. His DASHIELL HAMMETT: A CASEBOOK - called ‘authoritative and invaluable’ by the Los Angeles Times - won the Edgar Allan Poe Special Award.
-zenosbooks
