Brian wrote:
"..... but I think it's possible to upset the genre while
also writing within it. I think Hammett and Chandler were
able to do that just fine, have quasi-happy endings, and
include in some of the fatalism - if you will - that
Stansberry advocates."
While I agree with your point about H & C having
quasi-happy endings and including fatalism, I've got to
question your implication that Hammett upset the genre. Of
course, it depends upon what genre you are discussing. As
Chandler argued in Simple Art of Murder, Hammett did upset
the old genre of mysteries, but in so doing he helped
establish a new, hardboiled genre that had not previously
existed. This is the whole question surrounding the
establishment of genre -- when does it actually become a
genre with set expectations? Of course the best genre writers
offer a synthesis between their take on the tradition and
innovation. For instance, Chandler knowingly wrote to this
new tradition, but he mixed in enough innovation that he
ultimately became paired with Hammett as an exemplar of the
genre.
Mark
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