View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by OTHES DIPLOMARBEIT Titel der Diplomarbeit "The Hard-Boiled Revolution - Influences and Development" Verfasser Mathias Kollmitzer angestrebter akademischer Grad Magister der Philosophie (Mag. Phil.) Wien, 2010 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A343 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Anglistik und Amerikanistik Betreuerin: Univ.-Ass. Privatdoz. Mag. Dr. Astrid Fellner Hinweis Diese Diplomarbeit hat nachgewiesen, dass die betreffende Kandidatin oder der betreffende Kandidat befähigt ist, wissenschaftliche Themen selbstständig sowie inhaltlich und methodisch vertretbar zu bearbeiten. Da die Korrekturen der/des Beurteilenden nicht eingetragen sind und das Gutachten nicht beiliegt, ist daher nicht erkenntlich, mit welcher Note diese Arbeit abgeschlossen wurde. Das Spektrum reicht von sehr gut bis genügend. Es wird gebeten, diesen Hinweis bei der Lektüre zu beachten. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................1 1.1.1 Hard-boiled detective fiction ..................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Thesis Statement .......................................................................................................................... 3 2 CRIME AND DETECTIVE FICTION – AN OVERVIEW ..............4 2.1 The development of crime fiction in England and America – from the 18th century to the late 19th century .................................................................................................................................................. 4 2.2 Detective Fiction ........................................................................................................................... 9 2.3 The Classical Detective Model – the Great Detective .................................................................. 15 3 HARD-BOILED DETECTIVE FICTION .................................... 19 3.1 The American Hero ..................................................................................................................... 19 3.2 Origins ........................................................................................................................................ 24 4 THE CLASSICAL AMERICAN HARD-BOILED SLEUTH ........ 27 4.1 The authors................................................................................................................................. 28 4.1.1 Dashiell Hammett .................................................................................................................... 28 4.1.2 Raymond Chandler .................................................................................................................. 32 4.2 The detectives ............................................................................................................................ 35 4.2.1 The Continental Op – “Professional” is my middle name ....................................................... 36 4.2.1.1 Appearance .................................................................................................................... 37 4.2.1.2 Character ....................................................................................................................... 38 4.2.1.3 Alcohol ........................................................................................................................... 43 4.2.1.4 Relationships .................................................................................................................. 44 4.2.2 Samuel Spade – The blond Satan ............................................................................................ 46 4.2.2.1 Appearance .................................................................................................................... 47 4.2.2.2 Character ....................................................................................................................... 48 4.2.2.3 Alcohol ........................................................................................................................... 54 4.2.2.4 Relationships .................................................................................................................. 56 4.2.3 Philip Marlowe – The knight in the shining armor .................................................................. 59 4.2.3.1 Appearance .................................................................................................................... 60 4.2.3.2 Character ........................................................................................................................ 61 4.2.3.3 Alcohol ........................................................................................................................... 69 4.2.3.4 Relationships .................................................................................................................. 73 4.3 The Hard-Boiled Detective .......................................................................................................... 75 4.3.1 General Discussion .................................................................................................................. 76 4.3.2 The “Stereotype” ..................................................................................................................... 78 4.3.3 The method of investigation ................................................................................................... 83 4.3.3.1 The Vigilante .................................................................................................................. 86 4.3.4 The relationships ..................................................................................................................... 87 5 CONCLUSION......................................................................... 90 6 BIBLIOGRAPHY/LIST OF WORKS CITED............................. 93 6.1 Primary Sources .......................................................................................................................... 93 6.2 Secondary Sources ...................................................................................................................... 93 6.3 Electronic Sources ....................................................................................................................... 97 7 INDEX ..................................................................................... 99 GERMAN SUMMARY ................................................................. 101 CURRICULUM VITAE ................................................................. 102 1 1 Introduction In his study of the genre, Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction, Ralph Willet chooses to resort to the New Encyclopedia Britannica in order to provide for a quick definition of the subject. hard-boiled fiction: a tough unsentimental style of American crime writing that brought a new tone of earthy realism or naturalism to the field of detective fiction. Hard-boiled fiction uses graphic sex and violence, vivid but often sordid urban backgrounds, and fast-paced, slangy dialogue. (New Encyclopedia Britannica qtd. in Willett ch.1) This is an excerpt from an encyclopedia and it definitely gives a short and precise definition of the genre‟s key characteristics, but is this definition perhaps not an oversimplification? Naturally, the articles of such format are meant to contain nothing more than such a short overview and hence do not claim to offer anything beyond that. But in the context of this thesis, there is certainly a need for an in- depth definition of this kind of this genre1. 1.1.1 Hard-boiled detective fiction In the opinion of several critics, „hard-boiled detective fiction‟ constitutes its own subgenre within that of crime fiction. These stories and novels feature a sufficient number of differences from the classic British detective stories in the tradition of Arthur Conan Doyle‟s Sherlock Holmes to substantiate this claim. Charles J. Rzepka even speaks of a “direct challenge” to these classical models with their “brusque, clipped and vernacular style” (179)2. 1 For an etymology of the term “hard-boiled” itself see Tamony, Peter. “The Origin of „Hard-Boiled‟ .“American Speech, 12.4 (December 1937): 258-261. 2 Andrew Pepper heavily argues against this establishment of the contrast between British, hence classical, detective fiction and American, hard-boiled detective fiction and challenges the notion of a distinctive “hard-boiled […] genre or subgenre” (Pepper 142). For further details see Pepper, Andrew "The Hard-Boiled Genre". Contrarily Adams describes the hard-boiled genre as “unmistakably American” (Adams 288)and likens the differences between British and American writing to the differences between a game of cricket and American football (Adams 288). It has to be kept in mind, that the British school of crime fiction also spawned its imitators (S.S. Van Dine, Ellery Queen for example) in America. American crime fiction was not a priori contrasted to the classical model, but hard-boiled detective fiction is what Horsley, amongst others, describes as the “distinctively American contribution” (American Hard-Boiled Fiction). For a historical overview of the development of American crime fiction, see Moudrov "Early American Crime Fiction". 2 The structure of this form of fiction also deviates from that of the classical, “Golden Age”, detective story as it puts more emphasis on the individual characters, action