There was a discussion about the expression hard-boiled. I've
been reading Jopi Nyman's "Men Alone: Masculinism,
Individualism, and Hard-Boiled Fiction" and he claims
according to the Oxford English Dictionary that the
expression first appeared in the 1730s in some recepies. In
the end of the nineteenth century it was applied to hats and
other clothes. And then, via Mark Twain, some writers began
to be labeled as hard-boiled.
Nyman is a Finnish scholar of hard-boiled literature and his
two books on the subject (the other is "Dark Romanticism and
Hard-Boiled Fiction") are available through Amazon. In his
two books he studies
"They Shoot Horses, "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "To
Have and Have Not" and "Red Harvest". In "Men Alone" there
are some revisionist views of the genre's claimed political
radicality. Strongly recommended, if you can stand the harsh
criticism of your favourite genre.
Juri
jurnum@utu.fi
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