The Postman Always Rings Twice

Infobox Book |
name = The Postman Always Rings Twice
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover 1934 pub. Alfred A. Knopf
author = James M. Cain
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Crime novel
publisher = Alfred A. Knopf
release_date = 1934
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages =
isbn = N/A
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Postman Always Rings Twice" is a 1934 crime novel by James M. Cain.

The novel was quite successful and notorious upon publication, and is regarded as one of the more important crime novels of the 20th century. Fast-moving and brief (only about 100 pages long, depending on the edition), the novel's mix of sexuality and violence was startling in its time, and saw the book banned in Boston. [cite web |url=http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780679723257 |title=The Postman Always Rings Twice |publisher=www.randomhouse.com]

It has been adapted as a motion picture four times; the 1946 version is probably the best known, and is regarded as an important film noir.

Plot synopsis

The story is narrated in the first person by Frank Chambers, a young drifter who stops at a rural California diner for a meal, and ends up working there. The diner is operated by a young, beautiful woman, Cora, and her much older husband, Nick Papadakis, sometimes called "The Greek".

There is an immediate attraction between Frank and Cora, and they begin a passionate affair with sadomasochistic qualities (when they first embrace, Cora commands Frank to bite her lip, and Frank does so hard enough to draw blood from Cora's lips).

Cora, a "femme fatale" figure, is tired of her situation, married to a man she does not love, and working at a diner that she wishes to own and improve. Frank and Cora scheme to murder the Greek in order to start a new life together without Cora losing the diner.

They plan on striking Nick's head and making it seem he fell and drowned in the bathtub. Cora fells Nick with a solid blow, but, due to a sudden power outage and the happenstance appearance of a policeman, the scheme is unsuccessful. Nick recovers and because of retrograde amnesia does not suspect that he narrowly avoided being killed.

Still determined to kill Nick, Frank and Cora repeat the first plan, only in a car. Nick is plied with wine, then struck and killed, then the car is crashed. Both Frank and Cora are injured. The local prosecutor suspects what has actually occurred, but doesn't have enough evidence to prove it. As a tactic intended to get Cora and Frank to turn on one another, he tries only Cora for the crime. Although they do turn against each other, a clever ploy from Cora's lawyer prevents Cora's full confession from coming into the hands of the prosecutor. With the tactic having failed to generate any new evidence for the prosecution, Cora ultimately accepted a lenient plea deal under which she was given a suspended sentence and no jail time.

Frank and Cora eventually patch together their tumultuous relationship, and now plan for a future together. But as they seem to be prepared finally to live together, Cora dies in a car accident. The book ends with Frank summarizing events that followed, explaining that he was convicted for Cora's murder and that the text is to be published after his execution.

The title and explanations for its meaning

The title is something of a "non sequitur"; nowhere in the novel does a postman character appear, nor is one even alluded to. When asked for an explanation, Cain stated that the manuscript had been rejected by 13 publishers prior to being accepted for publication on his 14th attempt, so that when the publisher asked him what he wanted the work to be entitled he drew on this experience and suggested "The Postman Always Rings Twice". Additionally, the theme of fate is made explicit by the doubles in the novel. Most obviously, Frank and Cora attempt to murder the Greek twice- the second only being successful. Frank's relationship with another woman - a sort of alternate Cora, another "ring" for Frank- creates a major disturbance between the couple that eventually leads to their downfall. Perhaps most significantly is that the criminals brush with the fate of justice and escape unharmed, only to ultimately be punished in the end.

Cain's own explanation

In the preface to "Double Indemnity", Cain recounts how he showed the manuscript of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" to Vincent Lawrence, and continues:

:"Lawrence liked it, and even gave me a title for it. We were talking one day, about the time he had mailed a play, his first, to a producer. Then, he said, "I almost went nuts. I'd sit and watch for the postman, and then I'd think, 'You got to cut this out,' and then when I left the window I'd be listening for his ring. How I'd know it was the postman was that he'd always ring twice.":"He went on with more of the harrowing tale, but I cut in on him suddenly. I said: "Vincent, I think you've given me a title for that book.":"What's that?":"The Postman Always Rings Twice.":"Say, he rang twice for Chambers, didn't he?":"That's the idea.":"And on that second ring, Chambers had to answer, didn't he? Couldn't hide out in the backyard any more.":"His number was up, I'd say.":"I like it.":"Then, that's it."

William Marling explanation

William Marling, author of "Hard-Boiled Fiction", writes [http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/engl/marling/hardboiled/XXXXXX.html "Marling, William, "Hard-Boiled Fiction", Case Western Reserve University, updated 2 August 2001] ] that the title may come from one of the most sensational news stories of 1927 and 1928: the trial and execution of "Tyger Woman" Ruth Snyder and her lover Judd Gray for the murder of her husband Albert. The story was publicised by the east coast press, culminating with a photo of Ruth Snyder's electrocution being printed in the "New York Daily News".

Snyder, an attractive thirty-one-year-old blonde, began an extramarital affair with Gray. In court, Gray asserted that Snyder insisted her husband was abusive, and that Gray then volunteered to kill him.

Marling notes that Cain could have borrowed the title from a statement of Snyder's: she took out a life insurance policy on her husband, but ordered the postman to deliver the payment notices only to her. He was to ring the door bell twice as a signal.

Roy Hoopes' explanation

However Roy Hoopes, in his biography of Cain [Roy Hoopes, "Cain: The Biography of James M. Cain", New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982 ISBN 0809313618] offers an entirely different explanation. According to Hoopes, Cain and his publisher had been going back and forth over a title, neither of them liking the other's suggestions, when Cain and screenwriter Vincent Lawrence finally came up with "The Postman Always Rings Twice". Hoopes' account says that title was derived when Lawrence noted that amid the anxiety of awaiting news on a submitted manuscript, he would at times specifically try to "avoid" hearing the doorbell ring. However the tactic proved unsuccessful because the postman would always ring again to ensure he was heard. This caused Cain to think of an English or Irish saying which stated that a postman will always knock twice in announcing his presence. Lawrence and Cain then agreed that the postman ringing twice was metaphorically suited to Frank's situation at the end of the novel.

With the "postman" being God, or Fate, the "delivery" meant for Frank was his own death as just retribution for murdering Nick. Frank had missed the first "ring" when he initially got away with that killing. However, the postman rang again, and this time the ring was heard, when Frank was wrongly convicted of having murdered Cora, and then sentenced to die for the crime.

In the 1946 film, Frank explicitly explains the title in the terms offered in Hoopes' biography of Cain.

External links

* [http://www.detnovel.com/Cain%20James.html William Marling, "James M. Cain" essay from "Hard Boiled Fiction"]

References