<<Hardboiled was conceived as a class critique,
asserting the value of the everyday man as he exposes the
corruption of
the more moneyed class (criminal and allegedly legit);
Hammett went to
jail for his politics. Spillane's politics on the other side
of the
spectrum are even more unavoidable.>>
The beginnings (and the golden era) of the hardboiled genre
do not
support such a thesis. Let's look at the Black Mask
boys:
Hammett - yes, devastating criticism of the rich and the
powerful.
Gardner - it's not at all clear that he asserts the value of
the
everyday man. He mainly aims to entertain.
Daly - Race Williams values money - as long as he's paid, he
will do his
job (including shooting on suspicion, to kill).
Paul Cain - emphasis on violent crime and corruption in the
underworld,
no good guys (everyday or otherwise) to be seen
anywhere.
Norbert Davis - His hardboiled stories don't favor the
everyday man -
rather, he is generally sarcastic and rather short on social
commentary.
His comic stories make fun of the genre itself, in particular
of the
P.I., again without a clear social statement.
Nebel - Cardigan is essentially a brute. If he does have a
social
conscience, it is of the Reader's Digest variety. He serves
the rich
earnestly when they are nice (or if there's a cute girl
involved).
Raoul Whitfield - An adventure writer and father of the noir
genre,
sometimes close to Hammett, sometimes very distant. His
position on the
everyday man versus the powerful is unclear, at least to me.
Those Jo
Gar stories are rather cryptic - and endlessly
fascinating.
Raymond Chandler - biting social commentary and constant
ridiculing of
the rich and powerful; he is the writer that best fits the
thesis.
I could go on and on, and no clearer picture would emerge.
The reason
I'm boring everybody with this is that I disagree with those
who would
have Hammett and Chandler represent the entire hardboiled
genre. This
is, at least in my view, a bad misrepresentation. The
"hardboiled genre"
(or genres, to be more precise) as practiced in the pulps had
a lot of
variety, both stylistically and ideologically - not to
mention the
enormous range in quality.
Off the pulpit and back to work, or to watch the fireflies in
the fog at
night, an always inspiring act. No crime in the
mountains.
Regards,
Mario Taboada
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