http://www.swisseduc.ch/english/readinglist/cain_james/postman/
The Postman Always Rings Twice, 1934 - Information About the
Book
Note on the Title of James M. Cain's
Novel "The Postman Always Rings Twice
In "Murder on the Love
Rack," the tenth chapter of CAIN: The Biography of James M.
Cain (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982), Roy Hoopes
details the history of Cain's famously enigmatic title for
his first novel. According to Hoopes, Cain originally titled
the work Bar-B-Que, but the publisher Alfred Knopf who was
considering publishing the novel objected to the title and
suggested For Love or Money instead. Cain hated Knopf's title
because he found it generic, the sort of title that seems
designed to market any sensationalistic book or movie. In
return, Cain offered to call the book Black Puma or The
Devil's Checkbook, but Knopf rejected these as well. Hoopes
reports that finally, during a conversation with the
playwright and screenwriter Vincent Lawrence--Cain's best
friend in Hollywood, and the person to whom he ultimately
dedicated this novel--came up with the title The Postman
Always Rings Twice. The two writers had been commiserating
over the agonies of
waiting for the postman each day to find out the latest
news on their submitted manuscripts. Lawrence said that he
would sometimes go out into his backyard to avoid hearing the
postman come but complained that the postman always rang
twice to make sure he was heard. This anecdote put Cain in
mind of an old English and Irish tradition according to which
the postman always rang (or knocked) twice to announce
himself. Cain pitched the title to his friend and Lawrence
agreed that this metaphor was well suited as a description
for the fate of Frank Chambers. Knopf, of course, accepted
the title, and Hoopes notes that this title, with its rather
obscure meaning, may in fact have contributed to the
controversy that fueled the novel's huge success.
J.C.
Caruso
University
of Washington
Order Roy
Hoopes: Cain : The Biography of James M. Cain from Amazon
(France, Germany, UK, -->USA)
Dave Zeltserman <
dz@hardluckstories.com> wrote: This may be mythology
but the story I remember is that Cain's postman
always rang his bell twice when he had a letter from a
publisher.
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Stephen D. Rogers"
<cc_sdr633@...>
wrote:
>
> It's been a while since I read THE
> POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS twice. Can
> someone remind me the significance
> of the title?
>
> Stephen
> http://www.stephendrogers.com
>
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