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RARA-AVIS: Harboiled
As Douglas Greene points out, "hardboiled" was used originally as an
adjective describing the protagonist of a certain type of mystery or
adventure story - not a style. If I remember correctly, Joseph Shaw
makes this same point in his introduction to "The hardboiled omnibus",
in which he stresses that what the writers who made Black Mask
legendary shared was a lean, realistic style - which he compares to
the traditional style seen in the deductive type of mystery that
dominated the field in the early decades of the century.
Regarding reissues of Raoul Whitfield stories, I personally would gladly
subscribe to a limited edition. Last night I finished reading his novel
"The Virgin Kills" (reissued by No Exit Press), a superb and...
hardboiled entertainment. If time permits, I will write a "nostalgia"
review of the reissue. It's a shame that Whitfield died so young.
There are also many uncollected stories by Norbert Davis, one of
the great but almost forgotten pulp writers - and his three novels
have been out of circulation for ages (at least in the U.S.). His
detective + dog team is one of the funniest and weirdest in the mystery
literature.
Regards,
Mario Taboada
Old Dominion University
taboada@math.odu.edu
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