Hardboiled fiction

Hardboiled fiction is a form of American detective fiction characterized by its use of grittiness, violence, and realism. The genre, which reached its zenith between 1925 and 1940, was initially created as a response to the refined style of British murder mysteries epitomized by such authors as Agatha Christie, G.K. Chesterton, and Dorothy Sayers in the 1920s. The term "hardboiled" is in reference to the toughness of a hardboiled egg, which is equated to the hard edge of the settings and characters featured in these novels. Typically, hardboiled novels are darker in tone than earlier detective novels, and they present the investigating detective's personal thoughts about ongoing events rather than just simply relating the details of the crime as they are uncovered.

Origins

Hardboiled novels can trace their origins to pulp magazines. These magazines were cheaply produced collections of short stories written in a number of genres, including science fiction, horror, and crime fiction. Stylistically, they were often more graphic and violent than their peers in upmarket magazines and mainstream novels. The classical hardboiled novel was formed in the pages of such magazines, with the format's dark tone driving the creation of the hard edge that gave these stories their gritty appeal.

Many literary critics have suggested that the hardboiled novel was an American response to the changing nature of the world in the wake of World War I and the Great Depression. As such, detective fiction abandoned the idyllic worlds of Christie and Sayers (as well as that found in their American counterparts of Ellery Queen, Mary Roberts Rinehart, and John Dickson Carr) for a shadowy, urban environment where danger is a continuing threat and appearances are largely deceptive.

The most influential early pulp magazine in the hardboiled genre was Black Mask, which ran from 1920–1987. Carroll John Daly is credited as the author of the first true hardboiled story, "The False Burton Combs," which was published in the December 1922 issue of Black Mask. The story features a former soldier of fortune who remains unnamed other than his alias of "Burton Combs," and who works as a self-styled "gentleman adventurer" with a casual willingness to take jobs from either the police or the criminal underworld. By the late 1920s, hardboiled fiction had become established as an independent form of detective fiction.

Characteristics

Hardboiled novels largely follow the traditional narrative framework of other books in the detective genre, in which characters are introduced, a crime is committed, the investigator seeks evidence to solve the crime, and finally the perpetuator of the crime is uncovered. Where hardboiled novels differ is in their presentation of the investigator, the motivations and actions of the various protagonists, and the nature of the fictional universe in which the novel is set.

In British novels of the era, the setting was typically more genteel, with many books set on country estates or in other enclaves of the wealthy. Such novels often focused on the clashes between classes, a format that gave rise to the expression "the butler did it." The primary protagonist of a hardboiled novel was dramatically different from such aristocratic detectives as the wily Hercule Poirot, gentlemanly Lord Peter Wimsey, or grandmotherly Jane Marple. Instead, the hardboiled private eye is usually presented as having looser morals and a more overt cynicism than his English counterparts.

Furthermore, the universes of these detectives are inherently corrupt. Although the detective protagonists can be considered flawed antiheroes and unreliable narrators, the figures surrounding them are typically worse. Violence, betrayal, and tragic ends are regular features of the hardboiled detective's world. As the origins of the genre lie in the 1920s and 1930s, even contemporary versions of the hardboiled novel set their stories in that era, with elements like organized crime, political graft, and prohibition being recurring aspects.

Perhaps the most defining feature of the hardboiled novel is its narrative perspective. These novels rely on a first-person narrative point of view in which the private eye presents a running commentary of events. The flavor of the genre is characterized by this distinct tone, which is related through streetwise slang and is centered upon the lives of the social underclasses. The private eye's life in a hardboiled novel is typically one of violence, threats, immorality, corruption, and fluctuating loyalties. Lost in this sea of distrust and sin, the detective is typically alone and unable to fully trust anyone else. As a result, by story's end, he is left with the decision of whether to exact justice on the crime's true perpetuator himself (as there may be several individuals of varying culpability) or to allow a flawed system of criminal justice to dispense punishment instead.

The genre was strongly influenced by two literary movements of the period: literary naturalism and the adventure novel. Literary naturalism was born of the frustrations of the era and promoted a cynical depiction of social Darwinism (a view of society where the strong dominate the weak) in which social forces drive a person's actions. Hardboiled novels combine the underlying pessimism of this movement with the action-driven ethos of adventure novels.

Examples and Influence

Among the most prominent early writers in the hardboiled style were Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Horace McCoy, and George Sims (who wrote under the pen name Paul Cain). Responsible for such enduring literary characters as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, they wrote several famous books including The Thin Man (1934), The Big Sleep (1939), and The Long Goodbye (1953) that later became popular movies. Perhaps the most well-known example of the genre is Hammett's The Maltese Falcon (1929). The only novel to feature detective Sam Spade, it is often credited as establishing the literary model for the American private detective.

Enormously popular as a genre between World Wars I and II, hardboiled fiction was later eclipsed by more contemporary forms of detective fiction. However, the genre nonetheless proved to be an enormous influence on crime fiction and such later authors as Mickey Spillane, Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, Dennis Lehane, and Laura Lippman.

Bibliography

Cawelti, John G. "The Hard-Boiled Formula." Adventure, Mystery, and Romance: Formula Stories as Art and Popular Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976. 142–154. Print.

Gischler, Katrin. "American 'Hard-Boiled' Fiction." The Development of the Detective in American "Hard-Boiled" Fiction. Kessel, Germany: University of Kessel, 2004. Print.

"Hard Boiled Detective in the Pulps." Vintage Library. Vintage News Media, Inc. Web. 8 Jan. 2016. http://www.vintagelibrary.com/pulpfiction/genres/hard-boiled-detective.php

Horsley, Lee. "American Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction, 1920s–1940s." Crimeculture. Crimeculture. Web. 8 Jan. 2016. http://www.crimeculture.com/Contents/Hard-Boiled.html

Nyman, Jopi. Men Alone: Masculinity, Individualism, and Hard-boiled Fiction. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1997. Print.