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Existentialism & Culture

Sam Spade, Existential Hero?

Michael Rockler scrutinizes the private investigator’s existentialist credentials.

Perhaps the most popular existential work of the 20th century was written by a man who has not usually been identified as a philosopher, but whose work clearly embodies existential themes. Dashiell Hammett, creator of the hard-boiled detective novel, applied an existential viewpoint to his writing. His novel The Maltese Falcon is an excellent example of literature in which existential themes run through the story.

The Maltese Falcon begins when a young and very attractive women, Brigid O’Shaughnessy, approaches private detective Sam Spade and his partner, Miles Archer. She wishes to hire them to rescue her sister from Floyd Thursby, whom she believes has her sibling under his control.

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