Dashiell Hammett (post 4, update 2): Why did he have writer’s block for the last decades of his life? Why did he fail in his attempt to write literary novels?

In The Dain Curse, the literary novelist character turns out to be the main villain, a criminally insane, multiple murderer.

However, since there is nothing in the plot that requires this character to be a writer of any kind, let alone a literary novelist, the question arises as to whether Dashiell Hammett, a detective novelist, wrote this book to express contempt for literary novelists.

One possibility is that this novel’s choice of villain was an inside joke among Hammett and his literary friends. Another possibility is that the Dashiell Hammett, detective novelist personality did have contempt for literary novelists.

Both possibilities could be true. But to the extent that the second possibility was true, and to the extent that his literary-minded personalities knew it was true, his attempts to write literary novels under the name of Dashiell Hammett would be problematic.