A MYSTERIOUS WOMAN ENTERS A GRUMPY DETECTIVE’S OFFICE: WHY IS HARD-BOILED GENRE STILL ENTERTAINING US?
A MYSTERIOUS WOMAN ENTERS A GRUMPY DETECTIVE’S OFFICE: WHY IS HARD-BOILED GENRE STILL ENTERTAINING US?

Summary/Abstract: Hard-boiled is not only a literary subgenre of crime fiction, but also an expression of a typical American aesthetic. Its characters and repertoire have almost nothing in common with the European tradition concerning the rationalistic detective. One should understand hard-boiled fiction as part of the legacy of American modernist novel. Although the rules of the genre might seem rather traditionalistic, hard-boiled fiction has never been out of fashion since its Golden Age, because various writers from different places in the US have used it as a means to attune their style to urgent moral issues at a certain time.

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