Richard wrote:
>But I think we can fall prey to putting on the
authors the sins
of their
>admirers. While much may have been made of the
Pinkerton past
of Hammett by
>Captain Shaw and others, lets face it, this was
inevitable. I
do not recall
>(although I have not researched this by rereading
biographies)
that
>Hammett overly
>harped on this.
And Kevin replied:
<I don't know that Hammett "overly" harped on it
(certainly many of his admirers did -- and do) but he did
write that 1923 article.
"From the Memoirs of a Private Detective" for SMART SET
(located, for your convenience at http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/hammett2.htm,
so he did contribute at least partially -- and knowingly --
to his own myth.
I'm pretty sure that in the collection of Hammett's letters
there are several he wrote to Shaw and Cody (Black Mask
editors), reminding them of his Pinkerton experience. The
implication being his stuff was more authentic than they were
used to. I'd give specifics, but all I have is a bound galley
of the book which has no index and so the hell with
that.
Dick Lochte
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