SOURCE: An introduction to The Continental Op by Dashiell Hammett, edited by Steven Marcus, Random House, 1974, pp. ix-xxix.

In this excerpt Marcus discusses the philosophical underpinnings of Hammett's work; he also finds that Hammett's protagonists are often involved in a "fiction-making" activity that establishes them as unique figures in the crime fiction genre. For a rebuttal to Marcus's assertions, see Roger Sale's essay dated 1975.

I was first introduced to Dashiell Hammett by Humphrey Bogart. I was twelve years old at the time, and mention the occasion because I take it to be exemplary, that I share this experience with countless others. (Earlier than this, at the very dawn of consciousness, I can recall William Powell and Myrna Loy and a small dog on a leash and an audience full of adults laughing; but that had nothing to do with Hammett or anything else as far as I was...