Hellman and Hammett: The Legendary Passion of Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: A long but extremely rewarding read! Meticulous research brings these two brilliant writers to life. A longtime fan of both of these writers, I had originally planned to buy this book at the time of publication. However,plans did not go accordingly, and when I finally did, I could not find a copy. It was until a recent book fair at the local mall that I was able to find a copy. I spent many nights glued to this book fascinated by this turbulent relationship.This is a biography I will read again and again. I had never read anything by Joan Mellen-She is a wonderful writer!

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: A long but extremely rewarding read! Meticulous research brings these two brilliant writers to life. A longtime fan of both of these writers, I had originally planned to buy this book at the time of publication. However,plans did not go accordingly, and when I finally did, I could not find a copy. It was until a recent book fair at the local mall that I was able to find a copy. I spent many nights glued to this book fascinated by this turbulent relationship.This is a biography I will read again and again. I had never read anything by Joan Mellen-She is a wonderful writer!

Rating:
Summary: Seance as bad biography
Review: Joan Mellen is a writer very sure of herself.
Reading Hellman and Hammett, Mellen makes it very clear that she knows whats-what in a "last word" kind of way.
Though that might fly on AM radio, one expects a bit more from a biographer. Not content to quote letters from or to either Lillian Hellman or Dashiell Hammett (or letters they wrote to one another), Mellen feels the need to tell us what they mean. I could say, "It rained today" and, were Mellen my biographer, she would argue at one point that it had rained that day, in another chapter that I was speaking of some sexual desire, later, in yet another chapter, that it was sunny that day and proof of what a liar I was, etc.
Maybe the book would have been better had Mellen not been so sure that she could decipher not only what was said by Hellman or Hammett, but also what Mellen just KNOWS they meant (apparently she's able to peer into the minds of dead people -- "I FEEL dead people" should be Mellen's tagline)?
Equally irritating are Mellen's run on sentences and her tendency to repeat words within the same sentence or, to emulate Mellen's "style": "Still irritating are Mellen's run on sentences; still irritating is her tendency to repeat words in the same sentence." (Mellen appears to operate under the belief: why use "still" once in one sentence when it can be used multiple times?)
She has two larger-than-life artists and instead of being grateful for that and using it as a jumping off point for a first-rate biography, she's stuck in the mental mud of her own mind insisting that she knows what was meant by which joke or statement, what was really meant. A little doubt would have gone a long way in writing this book.
Perhaps she might have even thought to doubt the recollections of some of her sources on past experiences? Two examples (from many): Midge Decter & Norman Podhoretz have done political and personal u-turns (though Mellen doesn't note that -- perhaps she's not as all knowing as she assumes she is?), the sort of which calls to mind the term "revisionists." But these are trusted (and cited) sources for Mellen.
A careful reader will also note that although Hammett is buried on page 346 and the text goes on for ninety-nine more pages, key moments from Hellman's life -- professional and personal -- are left out. Hellman's much derided screenplay for the Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda & Robert Redford film The Chase is reduced to two sentences -- one briefly acknowledging this is Hellman's return to screenplays, the other alluding to her being "dysfunctional" during this period without any explanation given. Were a celebrated writer dysfunctional, I'd say that's a thread to develop in a biography.
The 1980s revival of The Little Foxes is noted only in passing. One sentence tells readers that Hellman gave an unnamed actress a note urging her to say a line "with greater meaning and thus greater force." In two other sentences, Mellen records Hellman telling the director of the play (Austin Pendleton) to call up Jason Robards "and say I've changed my mind. I will mary him."
Does that kind of "biography" and exploration inform the reader that this revival starred Elizabeth Taylor and played for nine months on Broadway? Or that reviews of the play were, at best, mixed? Most importantly, what was the reaction of the seventy-plus Hellman to having a (commercial) hit play on Broadway? Mellen's attention is elsewhere and a distracted biographer doesn't make for riveting reading.
Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett lived complicated, messy lives full of passion, rage, anger, lust and every emotion the human animal is capable of. That fact should have been the basis for an exploration of their lives and times. Instead, Mellen gets bogged down in mind reading, poor writing (true sentences are not three adjectives separated by two commas and the word "and" followed by a period.), and questionable sources. Her intent to "personalize" and "normalize" Hellman & Hammett reduces the scope of their lives and art. Good biography should capture the subjects (positively or negatively), not leave the reader yawning.
No doubt the all knowing Mellen "knew" this was just what the public craved -- Hellman and Hammett reduced to the boring couple next door. Perhaps the book sales corrected Mellen on that point? Reading the book, I'm reminded of Peter Falk's line from In the Spirit (screenplay by Jeannie Berlin & Laurie Jones), "I would never believe a professional prostitute could be so boring."