My first post to this group was to ask the same question as
Stephen, and the various answers are in the archives. I find
the explanation you cite the most satisfactory yet.
BTW, Michael, your article on carny life and lit <http://www.allanguthrie.co.uk/2/carny.htm>
is really good.
Karin
At 07:54 AM 02/10/2007 -0700, Michael S. Chong wrote:
>
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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economy) at Yahoo! Games.
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 06 Oct 2007 EDT