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RARA-AVIS: Definition of Hard Boiled
Regarding WWI and the origins of the term hard-boiled (those tough
drill instructors), hasn't the case been made that the war helped
close out the close out the Golden Age of detective fiction (gradually,
since Golden Age novels are still being written)? Can't WWI be seen
as a turning point in which tougher crime fiction emerged, putting
murder back in the hands of people who commit it for a reason, to
paraphrase Chandler in his essay "The Simple Art of Murder?" (With
quite a bit of help from the naturalist writers who came before,
as Bill points out.)Chandler may not have been exactly correct, it
seems to me, because his own murderers are no more realistic to me
(nor should they be) than those of the Conan Doyle School. They are
entertaining, but not real in the sense of the motivation behind
murders in the headlines (like Jim Thompsons's HELL OF A WOMAN,
which seems more like the truth behind the headlines to me).
Richard King
rking@vunet.vinu.edu
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