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This electronic exhibit, previously on display in the Maryland Room, features
the work of four authors from the hard-boiled school of crime/mystery writing.
From the fisticuffs and rapid-fire plot of Dashiell Hammett's Maltese
Falcon to the sex-charged tension of James M. Cain's The Postman
Always Rings Twice, American readers flocked to a new style of popular
fiction that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s.
It is no surprise that the
hard-boiled genre also found a receptive audience when Hollywood adaptations
hit the movie theaters. More readers discovered these books in the 1940s
and 1950s when pulp paperback editions exploded on the scene with colorful,
sometimes lurid cover art.
Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, William Lindsay Gresham, and George
P. Pelecanos each have a connection to the state of Maryland. Best known
for his Sam Spade character and the "Thin Man" stories, Dashiell
Hammett (1894 - 1961) was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, and gained
his first exposure to the world of crime as a Pinkerton detective in Baltimore.
James M. Cain (1892 - 1977) was born in Annapolis, got his literary start
in Baltimore under the guidance of H. L. Mencken, and spent his final years
in the College Park area. The author of Nightmare Alley, William
Lindsay Gresham (1909 - 1962) hailed from an old Maryland family. UMCP graduate
George P. Pelecanos (born 1957) produces critically acclaimed novels that
are very much in the hard-boiled tradition.
In addition to highly prized first editions of these hard-boiled books,
the exhibit displays the University's fine collection of pulp paperback
editions which are gaining interest among bibliophiles and students of
popular culture. Hollywood promotional photographs of film
adaptations from the Baltimore News-American
Collection show how these authors' works reached a wider audience.
"Hard-boiled Books" was curated by James Stephenson of Technical
Services with assistance from Doug McElrath and Pamela Alsop of Marylandia
and Rare Books. For more information
call Marylandia
& Rare Books at 301-405-9210. |
