> If you need proof, read the mystery reviews
Hammett
> wrote for publications like SATRUDAY REVIEW.
He
> continually drew distinctions between
traditional
> writers and hard-boiled writers, and was
often
> contemptuous of the traditional form, the form
that
> has lately come to be referred to as the "cozy."
He
> was particularly virulent in his criticism of the
most
> successful "traditional" mystery writer of the
day,
> S.S. Van Dine.
Thanks, Jim. Yes, I've read a few of the pieces you
mention. But I rather think they were written after by
authors who had graduated from the ranks of freelance writers
who started by cranking out hardboiled tales for Black Mask
and similar pulp magazines of the era. After practice borne
of a few million words written against deadlines to put bread
on the table, a certain style could eveolve, enabling some of
the best to evolve as writers of novels with a more serious
intent. Still, some of the raffish old days of
crank-em-out-for-next-Friday's
-deadline did hang on. :-) Witness, say, Chandler's
occasional lapses, like the way he changes the name of his
lead character halfway through "The Blue Dahlia." Not many
people seemed to either notice or mind particularly, as it's
a damn good story, anyway.
-- Sidney.
.
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