{{Short description|1969 novel by James M. Cain}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{infobox book |name = Cain X 3 |image = Cain X 3, (1969), by James M. Cain. Cover art, first edition.jpg |caption = Cover of the first edition |author = James M. Cain |country = United States |language = English |genre = Hardboiled novel |publisher = Alfred A. Knopf |pub_date = 1969 |media_type = Print (hardcover and paperback) |isbn = 978-1299518889 }} '''''Cain X 3''''' is a collection of three previously published novels by James M. Cain, reissued in 1969 by Alfred A. Knopf, with an introduction by Tom Wolfe.<ref>Hoopes, 1982 p.646</ref>

Cain’s literary ''oeuvre'' had drifted into obscurity by the late 1960s, and as a novelist he was at his nadir. Then renewed interest in the hardboiled fiction of the 1930s by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler drew attention to Cain’s contributions to the genre.<ref>Skenazy, 1989 p. 124</ref>

Alfred A. Knopf publishers responded by offering this anthology of three of Cain’s most successful novels, ''Cain X 3'': ''The Postman Always Rings Twice'' (1934), ''Double Indemnity'' (1936), and ''Mildred Pierce'' (1941). Enthusiasm for Cain’s early work persisted into the 1970s and 1980s.<ref>Skenazy, 1989 p. 124</ref>

==Critical Assessment==

Literary critic Tom Wolfe’s fulsome praise for Cain in a 1962 review of author Norman Mailer‘s An American Dream (1965) prompted Knopf to include a laudatory introduction to ''Cain X 3'' by Wolfe.<ref>Skenazy, 1989 p.124</ref><ref>Hoopes, 1982 p. 517-518</ref> ''Cain X 3'' garnered effusive praise from the Time, The Nation, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, the Minneapolis Tribune and the Village Voice.<ref>Hoopes, 1982 p. 518-519: See here for brief quotes from each review.</ref>

== Footnotes == {{reflist|colwidth=30em}} == Sources == *Hoopes, Roy. 1982. ''Cain.'' Holt, Rinehart and Winston. New York. {{ISBN|0-03-049331-5}} *Skenazy, Paul. 1989. James M. Cain. Continuum Publishing Company. New York. {{ISBN |0-8044-2821-2}} {{James M. Cain}} {{The Postman Always Rings Twice}}

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Category:1969 American novels Category:Novels by James M. Cain