In a message dated 2/10/00 7:43:39 AM Pacific Standard Time,
WordRunner@aol.com writes:
<< There's a lot of truth to what you've said, but
anyone who looks at
Hammett's life or Chandler's life after they began to
make money, can see
that these guys (and many of their contemporaries) were
very serious about
their work, and acutely aware of what they wanted to
achieve as craftsmen or
artists. >>
Yes, when a writer becomes financially secure, he becomes an
"artist." But that's usually after a great deal of writing,
especially in the time of the pulps (pulp novels included).
But there was never a hard-boiled manifesto. If there was, I
probably wouldn't read hard-boiled. I guess it started with
Joseph Shaw pointing to a Hammet story and saying, "write
like this guy." And the authors would try to write within
that formula, but would also write like themselves. And one
of the things that's most impressive to me about the
hard-boiled pulps is not the Hammetts or the Chandlers or the
Ross Macdonalds
(although they all earned their reputations). All genres have
their greats. What's impressive is how often I can pick up a
book knowing nothing about it or its author, and have it be a
solid good read. I just bought ONE FOR THE DEATH HOUSE by a
J.N. Flynn, (based on the cover), and while it wasn't
stellar, it was deeply satisfying read. That's what makes me
want to understand the genre.
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