Hardboiled Fiction

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Hardboiled Fiction

• Associated with detective stories
• Characteristic of unsentimental portrayal of
  crime, violence, and sex
• Depiction is brutal and direct, with no
  reservations
• Portrays harsh realities of life
• Detectives come to realize the truth that life is
  morally chaotic
• Often includes a murder mystery

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Development

• Edgar Allen Poe defined the detective story in
  the 1840s, the basics of which undermine much
  hardboiled fiction
• Hardboiled fiction was developed in the early
  1920s by Carroll John Daly
• Popularized throughout 1920s by Dashiell Hammett

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Development

• Popularized throughout 1920s by Dashiell Hammett
• Refined in late 1930s by Raymond Chandler
• Although still popular today, hardboiled fiction
  saw its height from 1920-1950

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Development/Upbringings

• The economic boom following the First World War
  combined with the introduction of Prohibition in
  1920 to encourage the rise of the gangster and
  organized crime, which in some respects was the
  upbringing of the hardboiled detective
• City streets were ridden with crime, violence,
  poverty, drinking, and death. Out of these
  streets, the hardboiled detective was born

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Typical Hardboiled detective

• Defined by their tough personality and attitude
• Independent of others, often having no family and
  few friends
• Cynical city-dwellers
• Willing to break the law to ensure justice

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Typical Hardboiled Detective

• Not afraid to shoot when necessary
• Dont live by strict ethical codes
• Sometimes characters are WWI veterans. Their
  exposure to death and hardship makes them rather
  tough, pessimistic protagonists
• Ambivalent attitude towards police understand
  they are working against same thing, but want to
  rid America of crime on their own
• Stereotypical diet of black coffee, fried eggs,
  and cigarettes

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Typical Hardboiled Detective

• Often have beautiful women as their clients

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Hardboiled vs. Mystery/Detective

• Hardboiled fiction changed the face of mystery
  and detective writing
• Protagonists with the tough attitude are unique
  to hardboiled
• Rather than just solving the mysteries,
  hardboiled detectives confront danger and partake
  in violence
• Depicts real situations on the streets, which are
  very different from British murder mysteries
  solved by implausible methods

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Why hardboiled?

• The term hardboiled was derived as a
  comparison between a hardboiled egg and the
  detectives of the fiction, both of which are
  relatively tough

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Publication

• Hardboiled fiction was originally published in
  pulp magazines, most famously Black Mask
• Between 1920 and 1950, over 175 different
  magazines were published with hardboiled fiction
• Late 1920s, Hollywood began hiring writers in
  the genre to write movie scripts
• 1930, detective radio shows went on air

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• 1931, Newspapers began printing
• detective comic strips, followed
• by comic books

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Carroll John Daly

• Born in Yonkers, New York in 1889.
• Widely considered to be one of the fathers of
  Hardboiled Fiction with his piece The Snarl of
  the Beast in 1927.
• The Snarl of the Beast is considered to be the
  first ever private eye novel.
• First, Daly made a name for himself in the Nickel
  and Dime Pulps in the 1920s.
• Black Mask was a very popular Pulp where many
  of Dalys first ideas were published. Most
  notable are the introduction of characters Terry
  Mack and Race Williams.
• Daly left the Black Mask magazine after many
  disputes with its editor Cap Shaw, who thought
  Dalys writing style was porous.
• Many of Dalys stories and characters were fan
  favorites because of their quick-wit and
  penchants for action.
• Notable Works
• The White Circle (1926)
• The Snarl of the Beast (1927)
• The Man in the Shadows (1928)
• The Hidden Hand (1929)
• The Tag Murders (1930)

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Dashiell Hammett

• Born in 1894 in St. Marys County, Maryland.
• Hammett was once a private detective for the
  Pinkerton Detective Agency until he gave it up
  for writing in 1928.
• His first character was a nameless detective
  known as The Continental Op. The Continental
  Op first appeared in Black Mask. The first novel
  the Continental Op appeared in was Red Harvest
  and the second and last was in The Dain
  Curse.
• The Maltese Falcon is considered to be Hammetts
  masterpiece. It introduced the private eye Sam
  Spade. Spade was different from Op because he did
  not narrate the story, it was told in
  third-person. Spade is considered to be the
  archetype for many classic fictional detectives.
• Hammett did not write many novels because he
  lived a flamboyant lifestyle more interested in
  the social scene. He penned many screenplays for
  Hollywood.
• He was involved in a relationship with Lillian
  Hellman who often took their relationship into
  her own writing which Hammett would revise.
• Notable Works
• Red Harvest (1928)
• The Dain Curse (1929)
• The Maltese Falcon (1930)
• The Glass Key (1931)
• The Thin Man (1934)

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Raymond Chandler

• Born July 23, 1888, in Chicago, Illinois.
• His parents divorced when he was young and his
  mother moved herself and him to England to live
  with relatives.
• In 1907 he was naturalized as a British citizen.
  He free-lanced as a journalist for a bit.
• He returned the U.S. in 1912 by way of curiosity
  about the U.S. He wound up in Los Angeles were
  subsequently his stories take place.
• Through economic hardship, Chandler began writing
  once again at the age of 44. He became a
  hard-boiled author through the influence of many
  Dashiell Hammett pieces.
• Chandlers style was opposite of many hard-boiled
  authors. He thought that many authors would
  deliberately throw the reader off. His style
  offered a story to the common folk that they
  could understand and articulate.
• His first book, The Big Sleep, introduce Philip
  Marlowe, a wise-cracking, cynical private eye
  told from the first-person perspective. Marlowe
  appears in multiple pieces from Chandler.
• Notable Works
• The Big Sleep (1939)
• Farewell, My Lovely (1940)
• The High Window (1942)
• The Lady in the Lake (1943)

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Agatha Christie

• Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, also
  known as the Queen of Crime, has sold more
  books collectively than any other author in
  history save William Shakespeare. Only the Bible
  is known to have outsold Agatha Christie.
• She was born into a wealthy family with an
  American father and English mother. She was
  married twice. In her first marriage she
  disappeared for ten days after her husband
  admitted to cheating on her. Many thought it was
  a publicity stunt and it is argued to this day.
• Her pseudonym was Mary Westmacott.
• Her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles,
  was published in 1920 and it introduced Hercule
  Poirot who appeared in 30 novels and many short
  stories.
• Another famous character was Miss Marple who was
  introduced first in The Murder at the Vicarage.
  This character was based on her grandmother.
• Notable Works
• Too many to list.

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Noir Fiction

• 1930s
• victim, suspect, criminal
• sex
• self-destructive
• direct, gritty realism
• more variety in plots

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Noir Authors

• Cornell Woolrich
• Dashiell Hammett
• James Cain
• Dorothy B. Hughes
• Jim Thompson
• David Goodis
• Charles Williams

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Film Noir

• 40s/50s
• low lighting
• black and white
• German expressionism
• hardboiled/noir
• Nino Frank 1946
• retrospective

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Film Noir Titles

• The Maltese Falcon Hammett (1941)?
• Shadow of a Doubt Hitchcock (1943)?
• http//youtube.com/watch?vkrOqZS9Cxu4
• Double Indemnity Cain (1944)?
• Mildred Pierce Cain (1945)?
• The Big Sleep Chandler (1946)?
• http//youtube.com/watch?vB2BU8-7kQLI
• In a Lonely Place Hughes (1950)?
• The Night of the Hunter Davis Grubb (1955)?
• Touch of Evil Whit Masterson (1958)?

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Femme Fatale

• Ellen Klein

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Typical Femme Fatale

• Femme fatale is French for deadly woman
• An incredibly attractive woman who leads men
  into danger
• Also called vamps because they are associated
  with vampires. The logic is that they leave
  their lovers mere shells of their former selves.

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• In hard-boiled fiction the protagonist is usually
  romantically interested/obsessed in the femme
  fatale
• She typically scorns marriage and familial
  relationships because they are too restraining.
• In the event that the femme fatale is married,
  the relationship is associated with boredom,
  unhappiness, and a sense of being caged by their
  husbands.

"He keeps me on a leash so tight I can't
breathe." Double Indemnity (1944)
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The Role of the Femme Fatale

• The femme fatale is incredibly strong willed and
  endlessly pursues her own means.
• In hard boiled fiction the femme fatale is
  associated with the purpetrator of the crime.
• Provides a stark contrast to the mysoginistic
  attitudes of the other characters.

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• The strong woman who defies the typical role of
  women and refuses to be blindly lead by men may
  be a result of the changing social status after
  World War II.
• The femme fatale usually dies at the end of the
  story. However she still exudes some control
  over men from her grave. The men are unable to
  forget her and in film noir the audience cant
  forget her either.
• In the 1944 film Laura the femme fatale is
  murdered and the detective hired to solve the
  crime falls in love with her picture.

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• In the event that the femme fatale doesnt die,
  she has a complete role reversal. She usually
  ends up marrying the protagonist and becoming a
  doting house-wife.
• In either case male dominance is established by
  the end of the book/film.

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Historical Femme Fatales

• Helen of Troy who ran away from her husband with
  Paris (or was kidnapped by Paris) and caused the
  nine-year Trojan War.
• Circe from The Odyssey who turned Odysseys men
  into swine.
• The Sirens from The Odyssey who enchant men with
  their song and make them jump into the sea where
  they drown.

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• Lillith who has a long history but was a goddess
  or demon and most notably the first wife of Adam.
  It is also suspected that she was the serpent
  that tempted Eve.
• Elektra from Marvel Comics
• Catwoman from Batman

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Double Indemnity
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vBpV0MZoAzxM
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Resources