What does it mean to write hard-boiled? I know the term came from the Maltese Falcone novel and Lee Child writes that style in his Jack Reacher books. I am assuming it is a type of style that sticks straight to the point. It tells a lot instead of showing, and it is fast-paced. What do you think?
It's a character, not a style. The hard boiled detective is stoic, steely-eyed, and unencumbered by the emotional vagaries that plague all the characters around them. Particularly the damsel who will need to be slapped out of her hysterics once or twice before the story concludes. It's pretty dated in my opinion, but there's still some classic charm there.
It's typically first person and sarcastic. The MC is almost always disillusioned with society. Think "Blade Runner" for a strangely modern example. Lots of danger and corruption (and broads, dames, femme fatales). But yeah, the MC carries the tone. Huh . . . are there any of these where the MC is female? I don't think I've ever seen one.
Hard-boiled writing has its roots in the bad old days of pulp fiction... generally speaking, written for teenage boys without a hope in hell of getting pussy for the foreseeable future. I much prefer Noir. Seven Crowns mentioned Blade Runner, which I'd argue embodies both Hard-boiled and Noir. If you want to experience Noir at its finest, watch the film Memento.
Not in books, but in movies, some of Barbara Stanwyck's characters could be described that way. Double Indemnity, and the movie with Henry Fonda where she plays a card sharp come to mind. ETA: I can't think of one where there was a hard boiled female detective, though. Most of the hard-boiled detective books were written during a time period where women weren't thought of as strong, so it's not surprising. But movie studios were trying to sell tickets to men and women, so there were plenty of strong female roles, many of them hard-boiled. For the OP: I'm a fan of Raymond Chandler (because he broke the rules, brilliantly), but it is pretty dated. I'm fine with the fact that it's dated because I love most things vintage 30's, but I wouldn't try to sell one. Also, there were tons of hilariously intentionally bad parodies of hard boiled detective fiction on TV and in movies when people suddenly rediscovered Humphrey Bogart, and I think those memories still linger. I still remember them from when I was a kid.
Since it got brought up, here's a list of fiction with female protags that fit the classification: http://www.laurenhenderson.net/tartcity/hardboiledwomen.html There's also a good definition of hard-boiled at the beginning of the article.
Thanks for posting that. I'd describe some of the protags on the list as more tough cookie than hardboiled, but that's probably my bias as a Chandler, Hammett, and Cain fan. It's cool that she's trying to expand the genre to meet a more modern definition, though, for those who are interested in it. I'm not, because I'm into them for the vintage slang and art deco and noir L.A. settings rather than the crime solving, but the list does provide something a lot of readers are missing.
Female hard boiled detective -Vi warshawki in the Sarah paretsky books, of which I think double indemnity is one Also sunny Randall in the Robert b Parker series, and the female protagonist in Richard montinari's books.
I think Jessica Jones can be considered hard-boiled. She is a super heronie detective with issues and she kicks ass.
There are some pretty c. 1980s dated ideas here. Hard boiled writing is actually a difficult tradition to do well and many of the s0-called pulp writers are now being recognised for their literary contributions. The simple definition of hard boiled was 'hard on the outside, hard on the inside' but that was really designed to put off people who didn't properly understand what was being written. Take one example, Hemingway exemplified the hard-boiled style much to the horror of the hard boiled community. Anybody who has read Hemingway knows which novel he made the switch in style in down the actual page and sentence where he acknowledged it. Hard boiled characters are also known as 'The Byronic Hero'. They are deeply human characters with real emotions who are getting by in the real world. The whole 'pulp fiction' thing was really people trying to earn a living on the one hand and social protest and commentary on the other at a time when social protest and social commentary were difficult to make, especially in the US. Whether or not there is a distinction between Noir and Hard Boiled is debatable, unless you don't understand either. Certainly its difficult to write Noir without Hard Boiled. But at the end of the day Hard Boiled writing is a distinct and recognisable style whose origins are not really known but certainly date back a very long way and are also linked to picaresque writing, which dates back to verbal story telling. It is a tradition rather than a style and has particular forms, motifs, tropes, etc etc. and can be found in almost every genre. However, good hard boiled writing is rare nowadays and that is deeply unfortunate.
Interesting article in the ...wait for it ...online edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica ...on the subject of hard boiled crime fiction. I was aware of a few of the authors who became famous for it, but I didn't realise Dashiel Hammet is credited for beginning the genre. It sounds as if the genre began with some seriously good innovative writing, which broke away from the British crime writing tradition, and dove straight into organised crime, etc, as its gritty and quintessentially American subject matter—not just 'murder whounnit.' However, the writer of the article seems to think the genre eventually deteriorated into what we might refer to as shallow 'hack' crime writing, with Mickey Spillane, etc. I bet there are still a lot of good hard boiled crime writers out there, though. Crime is a particularly popular genre here in Scotland at the moment. https://www.britannica.com/art/hard-boiled-fiction
Can't argue with that! I don't normally like hard boiled, but geez, I LOVE Harrison Ford. Ever since his appearance in American Graffiti as Bob Falfa in the bad guy black car...sarcastically crooning 'Some Enchanted Evening' to an unimpressed Laurie who had just jumped into his car to piss off her boyfriend, and was giving him the cold shoulder....one of my favourite movie moments, because it was so unexpected. I really laughed.
So it was. They tried to put that one on Chandler, and Raymond being Raymond corrected them. Hammet's Maltese Falcon is a must if you are trying to understand the origins. You can read all online articles you like, but there is nothing like digesting the real thing, not even watching Bacall and the other guy, what-was-his-name, hmmm... Do we have to separate the twins? To me Noir and (good, clever) hard boiled can't be appart. Besides Noir is rather used to describe a mood on certain films. Noir can be inserted and work in lots of situations. I wouldn't touch a Spillane's book with a teen foot pole. Mike Hammer ended up as Spillane's puppet, to vent his political rants and whatnot. The tv series was funny through. Ian Rankin's John Rebus novels come to mind. If you are up to explore the gente, keep in mind the great big mistery doesn't have the same importance as on Sherlock Holmes and co. Same goes for writing style. At first I kept wondering how Hammet got away with it.
