The Glass Key

Dashiell HammettShanghai Translation Publishing House2015

Rating 3.6
Chapters
10
Series
The Hard-Boiled Hammett Collection
ISBN
9787532755134

Tags

Literature Foreign Literature Political ConspiracyFilm NoirSecret BargainGang BossDetective FictionDetective FictionFull-Length NovelAmerican Literature

Summary

The Glass Key is a novel by Dashiell Hammett published in 1931 and the work he himself favored most. Set against a deadlocked election in an American city, the novel opens with the body of Taylor Henry, the senator's son, found in the street by Ned Beaumont, closest friend of the racketeer Paul. The police and the press naturally point the finger at Paul, assuming that his secret dealings with the senator went wrong at a critical moment in the campaign. Unwilling to believe his friend could kill, Ned sets out to clear Paul: he works his ambiguous position between the underworld and the politicians to probe for information, while steering suspicion toward Despain, the son-in-law of a political rival. As anonymous letters arrive at the police and at the homes of the suspect's friends and family, the suspect is driven step by step into isolation, nearly confessing to the crime, and Ned, the only one still pursuing the truth, must weigh trust, betrayal, and personal feeling again and again. The title's "glass key" comes from a dream that Janet, the senator's daughter, recounts to Ned: a glass key opens a mysterious door, but behind it is ruin, and the key can be used only once before it shatters. The image foreshadows the price of uncovering the truth. With terse dialogue, restrained violence, and restrained lyricism, the novel paints a city where politics and crime are intertwined. It is regarded as a founding work of hard-boiled detective fiction, was adapted for the screen twice by Hollywood, and was a major inspiration for the Coen brothers' Miller's Crossing.

Editor's review

在哈米特的五部长篇里，《玻璃钥匙》是最容易被低估的一部：它没有《马耳他之鹰》那样一个足以象征贪婪的物件，却把故事整个安放在选举政治的黑箱里，让侦探身份本身变成可疑的东西。奈德·波蒙特不是站在罪恶之外揭穿真相的调查者，他就在罪恶内部，替黑帮做事，又与政客周旋，他查案的方式是挨打、撒谎、赌上朋友和自己的感情。哈米特的妙处在于，他从不解释人物为什么这样做，只用干净到近乎寡言的句子把动作铺开，让读者从人物的选择里自己判断他究竟有几分真心。那句有名的“笑起来更恐怖”，几段硬碰硬的打斗，还有结尾那把用过即碎的玻璃钥匙，都让这部小说在冷硬之外留出一点惘然的余味。林大容译笔顺畅，保留了原作短句推进的节奏。想把“黑色电影”的源头读一遍的读者，这本书值得摆在《马耳他之鹰》旁边。

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Reading tips

  1. 读前不必先了解剧情，但可以留意奈德的每一次“选择”而非每一条线索。
  2. 注意书中反复出现的“信任”主题，朋友之间的忠诚与政治交易是同一条线索的两面。
  3. 可搭配《马耳他之鹰》对读，体会哈米特前后两部长篇在人物立场上的变化。
  4. 读完不妨重看开头奈德发现尸体那段，会明白哈米特为什么把“他无所谓”写得那么刻意。

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

Contents

  1. 1 A Body in Chinatown
  2. 2 The Hat Trick
  3. 3 Cyclone Bomb
  4. 4 The Dog House
  5. 5 The Hospital
  6. 6 The Witness
  7. 7 The Lineup
  8. 8 Dismissed
  9. 9 A Bunch of Bums
  10. 10 The Broken Key

FAQ

《玻璃钥匙》有几个中文译本？ 常见的有两个：新星出版社2012年版，周莎译，属“午夜文库·大师系列”，ISBN 9787513305082；上海译文出版社2015年版，林大容译，属“硬汉哈米特珍藏系列”，ISBN 9787532755134。本页数据对应后者。
这本书的书名“玻璃钥匙”是什么意思？ 它是书中参议员之女珍妮向奈德讲述的一个梦境：玻璃钥匙能打开一扇门，门后却是一片狼藉，而且钥匙只能用一次，用过就碎了。它象征真相虽能被揭开，代价却不可挽回，也是全书结局的隐喻。
没读过哈米特其他作品，可以直接读这本吗？ 可以。这是独立成篇的长篇，不需要前置阅读。只是它的叙事偏冷峻克制，人物动机常不明说，如果第一次接触硬汉派可能略觉疏离，读几章适应节奏后会顺很多。
这本书是解谜型推理吗？ 不是典型的本格解谜。它更接近犯罪与政治小说，重点在于人物在权力夹缝中的处境与选择，线索是顺着调查自然浮现的，读者不必期待“读者挑战”式的推理结构。

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About the author

Dashiell Hammett Author · American · 1894–1961

Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961) was an American detective novelist and is regarded as a founder of hardboiled detective fiction. He worked for the Pinkerton Detective Agency in his early years, an experience that provided material for his later cold, realistic narratives. His representative works include The Maltese Falcon, The Glass Key, and The Thin Man, and he created classic detective figures such as Sam Spade. Hammett's characters often inhabit a morally ambiguous urban criminal world; his language is concise and restrained, his plots move briskly, and he pays attention to social atmosphere and the dark side of human nature. This style has profoundly influenced the development of modern crime literature and film noir. The library holds eight of his works, spanning foreign literature, suspense and mystery, and social fiction, showing that his writing attracts attention in both genre literature and serious reading.