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Reflections of Society and Era in Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction

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Reflections of Society and Era in Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction MASARYK UNIVERSITY IN BRNO Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature Reflections of Society and Era in Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction Thesis Supervisor: Writtenby: PhDr.Irena Přibylová,Ph.D. ZuzanaJalová Brno2007 Declaration: Ideclare thatIhaveworkedonthis thesisonmyownandhaveonlyusedthesources listedinthe bibliography. ZuzanaJalová 2 Acknowledgment: Iwouldlike tothankPhDr.IrenaPřibylová,Ph.D.forherkindhelp,constructive adviceandprofessional approachshe hasrendered meinthecourseofthe productionof thisthesis. ZuzanaJalová 3 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................5 1. HISTORY OFDETECTIVESTORY ......................................................................6 1.1 THEORYOFDETECTIVEFICTION .............................................................6 1.2 FIRSTDETECTIVESTORIES ........................................................................8 1.3 THEGOLDENAGE ......................................................................................13 1.4 HARD-BOILEDSCHOOLOF DETECTIVESTORY .................................15 1.5 RAYMONDCHANDLERAND DASHIELLHAMMETT ..........................21 2. LITERARYANALYSIS ........................................................................................26 2.1 MODERNISTCONCEPTIONOF DETECTIVEFICTION .........................26 2.2 LANGUAGEOFHARDBOILED DETECTIVEFICTION ..........................31 2.3 INFLUENCEOFOTHERAUTHORS ..........................................................35 2.4 THETOUGHGUY ........................................................................................38 2.5 PHILMARLOWEANDSAMSPADE .........................................................41 3. ERAREFLECTIONS .............................................................................................46 3.1 CRIMEANDSOCIETY .................................................................................46 3.2 URBANENVIRONMENT ............................................................................50 3.3 GANGSTERS,RACKETEERS ANDBOOTLEGGERS ..............................53 3.4 POLITICALAND SOCIALCORRUPTION ................................................57 CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................61 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................63 RESUMÉ ........................................................................................................................64 BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................................................................65 WEBLIOGRAPHY .........................................................................................................68 APPENDIX .....................................................................................................................71 4 INTRODUCTION Detectivefictionisagenrethatdealswithcrime,itsdetection,revelationofthe criminalsandtheirmotives.Themainheroisusuallyadetective,actingupontherules oflogic,oftenaccompaniedbyafriend,acompanion,whohelpstorevealthe culprit.It might betheruleoflogicandratiothatattractssomanyreadersandmakesdetective fictionsopopular.Whatmorecouldmakeordinarypeoplefeel better and more extraordinarythanafeelingthattheysolvedamysteryusingtheirownbrains? Detectivefictionis basedonreaders`feelingtheyareas intelligentasthe detective. Suchafeelingmakesthemextraordinaryandleadsthemoutoftheirgreyordinarylives. The persistingpopularityofdetectivefictionattractedmetoinvestigatethegenre. Theambivalenceandambiguityofapproaches towardsthegenremadetheresearch evenmorechallenging.Theinvestigationitselftookovertheroleofdetectionand revealinga mystery.Ifocusedgenerallyonhard-boileddetectivefictionastheformula isignoredbymanyacademicseventhoughitisasrichandvaluable asanyother literary formula. Inthe presentworkIwilltrytomakeaclearandgeneraloverviewofAmerican detectivefiction,togetherwiththeEnglishinfluence.Inmyopinion,theimportanceof hardboiledfictionanditsinfluenceonAmericansocietyisdisregardedanditshouldbe retrieved.Thecentralaimof mythesisis toanalyzesomenovelsoftwochief representativesofhardboiledschool,DashiellHammettandRaymondChandler.Iwill focusonmodernisticfeaturesandthereflectionoferadistinctinthenovelsandonthe influenceofsocialchanges.Furthermore,Iwilltrytoprove thateventhoughpopular literature is generallyapolitical,hard-boileddetectivefictioncommentswidelyon socialandpoliticalevents. Academicsandliterarycritics ingeneral arenot muchinterestedinpopular literature.Theyconsideritamarginalfieldofliteratureandthereforeitis difficultto findsomecompetentinformationandcriticism.Itriedtogatherallattainablematerials, butIoftenhadtodependonInternet sources.All theusedsourcesarelistedinthe bibliography. 5 1. HISTORY OF DETECTIVE STORY 1.1 THEORY OF DETECTIVE FICTION Comparedwithothertypesofnovels,detectivefictiondoesnotendwiththeclimax, asusual,butitgivesmoreexplanationsandrationalizationsofthesolutiontoprove it justandlogic.Freemancallssucha layout“dualcharacter”[Škvorecký55]. Detective fictiondoes notconsistonlyofadramaticstory,butit alsocontains alogical problem thatdoesnotneedtobesolvedtogetherwiththestory.That is whythedetective presentsthe evidence andanalyzesthesolution.Thedetectivestoryusuallyendswith confessionofthecriminalanditisnotfollowedbytheactof punishmentortrialvery often.Asimilaridea can befoundintheworkofLauraMarcuswhereshementionsthat theliteratureofdetectioncontains“itscomplexdoublenarrativeinwhichanabsent story,thatofacrime,is graduallyreconstructedinthesecondstory[the investigation]” [245].Shedistinguishes twodifferentstorieswithinanovel,whereasFreeman distinguishesastoryandalogical problemanditssolution.Ingeneral,suchadual characteror doublenarrativecanbecomparedto“theRussianformalistdistinction between sjuzet and fabula [‘discourse’and‘story’]”[Marcus 245].TheRussian Formalismdistinguishes between fabula ,thestory,and sjuzet ,the plot.Thestoryis formedbyachronologicalsequence ofevents,whereas the plotcanbeformedinnon- chronologicalorder,i.e.inthesequenceinwhichtheevents were presentedinliterary work[Liu“Russianformalism”].Toconclude,thestory,thecrime,isusuallydescribed inchronologicalorder,butthe plot,thediscourseandtheinvestigationcanbedescribed innonchronologicalordertoachievemoreattractiveness tothereader. MarcusalsomentionstheimportanceofChesterton`sconceptionofdetectivestories [247].Itisacomplexof signsandsymbolsconcealingsomesecretsandwaitingforthe detective torevealthem.Chestertondefendsthe detectivestorywhenheclaimsthatit “istheearliestandonlyformof popular literatureinwhichis expressedsomesenseof the poetryof modernlife.”[Marcus247].ThisideaisechoedinworkofRaymond Chandlerwhoexcellentlydescribedthecityofhistimefullofsecrets andhidden symbolsandthedetectivefightingaloneagainsttheevil andchaos. Theapproachofacademicstowards detectivefictionis rathernegative.ABritish literarycritic Nicholas Blincoeadmitsthat“all thegreatcrime writers areunliterary,at 6 leastasfarastheword‘literary’isunderstoodinanacademiccontext”[“TheCriminal Heart”].Thatiswhyanyliterarycriticismconcerningdetectivefictionandpopular fictioningeneral issorare.However,Blincoe,a crimewriteraswell,suggestsinthe sameworkadivisionbetweenthewhodunnits[or ‘cozies’ashecallsthem]and‘noir’ traditionof detectivefiction.‘Noir’ fictionmeanshardboileddetectivefictionastaken fromthetitle Black Mask ,a pulpmagazinefocusedonthestyle.Blincoetries tomake clearwhydivisionsandsubdivisionsofcrimefictionaregenerallyavoidedby academics.“Thedivisionintocozies andnoir isdifficulttosustainwhenone contemplatestheextraordinaryvarietyofcrimefictionproducedinBritain.” However,JohnScaggs,aLecturerintheDepartmentofEnglishatMaryImmaculate CollegeinLimerick,Ireland,triestomakeashortsubdivisionofcrimefiction.He focusesmainlyontheGoldenAge bothinBritainandAmericaandhedistinguishes betweenthe Britishwhodunnitnovel,togetherwiththe police procedural,andthe Americanhardboiledmode.Furthermore,Scaggssubdividesthewhodunnitnovelinto severalsubgenresvaryingaccordingtothesetting:the lockedroom mystery,the countryhousemystery,thesnow-boundmystery,or‘murderafloat’[514]. Theapproachofthereadersofcrimefictionandthefansdiffers.Aninternetsource focusedratheronreadersandfansdistinguishes severalcategoriesofcrimefiction accordingtoitscontent andprocedure[“CrimeFiction”].First,itisdetectivefiction whichcanbesubdividedintotwodifferentcategories,thewhodunnitandhardboiled fiction. Detectivefiction is a“formoffictionwhose mainstructural characteristicisa reversalofthesequence ofevents:thecatastrophe,generallyamurder,istypically presentedfirst,followedbytheintroductionofsuspectedcriminalsandofaseriesof clueswhose significance thereader isnotsupposedtograspuntil thestoryisendedbya climaxofexplanation,inwhichthedetectiveheroshowshowthecrimewascommitted, themotivesforit,andfinallytheidentityofthe criminal.”[Hart197] Sucha backwards constructionofastorywasanalyzedindetails byafamousAmericanauthorEdgar AllanPoe. The whodunnit [the1920stothe1940s]isoneofthemost popularsubgenresof detectivefictionwhichbecamefamousmostlythankstoitsmainrepresentativessuchas AgathaChristie.Thewhodunnitis basedoncrime,usuallya murder,andits investigationdone byadetective.Theinvestigation,followingofcluesanddiscovering 7 smalldetails,leads totherevelationofthecriminalandthe backgroundand motivesof thecrime. Hard-boiled fiction [the1920stothe1940s]isanothersubgenreofdetectivefiction whichisrepresentedmainlybyDashiellHammettandRaymondChandler.Hardboiled
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