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Carbondale. 1977. Southern Illinois University Press. 3rd Printing. Very Good in Slightly Worn Dustjacket Wth A Few Tears. 080930287x. Preface by Harry T. Moore. 247 pages. hardcover. keywords: America Literary Criticism Mystery. FROM THE PUBLISHER-Amidst the vigorous revival of interest in the literature of the Thirties, TOUGH GUY WRITERS OF THE THIRTIES, a collection of seventeen essays especially written for this volume, spearheads a re-evaluation of one particular genre. David Madden explains that a tough guy is a hard-boiled hero born of an unusually rough era. During the Depression he developed an attitude of cold-war dignity against the machinations of society and actively attempted revenge. Hoboes, the wandering defiants, did not wait until the Thirties to rebel. Kingsley Widmer discovers them on the American and Continental literary scene from the beginning of the century. Dealing with tough guy elements in Hemingway, Sheldon Grebstein touches on several writers who derive from Hemingway's style and attitude. Philip Young claims that TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT is Hemingway's only ‘tough' novel. We next look at some of the era's better detective fiction-again influenced by Hemingway-that of the Black Mask school. Philip Durham examines the best of this school, and, looking at all Hammett s fiction, Robert I. Edenbaum discusses the poetics of the private-eye. Irving Malin focuses on a single Hammett novel, THE MALTESE FALCON. Characteristics of one of the finest of the tough heroes, Raymond Chandlers Philip Marlow, are discussed by Herbert Ruhm. Elements of ‘pure' tough guy novels-those depicting the loner and outsider-are brought out by Joyce Carol Oates, who offers a discussion of James M. Cain; and Matthew Bruccoli, who focuses on John O'Hara's APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA. Emphasizing the elements of objective lyricism in a general discussion of Horace McCoy's ‘pure' tough novels, Thomas Sturak closely examines THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? The next ‘focus' piece deals with one of the best imitations of the tough genre, Richard Hallos' YOU PLAY THE BLACK AND THE RED COMES UP. Having dealt with both the tough private detective and the ‘pure' tough traditions, the book assesses two other types-the gangster novel, which George Grella calls he ‘urban pastoral', and the tough Hollywood novel, which Carolyn See believes best expresses the sense of ‘the American dream cheat. ' The follow ‘focus' essays dealing with novels after the Thirties which sow the direct or indirect influence of the tough writers. Charles Shapiro looks closely at William L. Gresham's NIGHTMARE ALLEY; Charles Alva Hoyt examines John D. MacDonald's THE DAMNED; R.V. Cassill looks at Jim Thompson's THE KILLER INSIDE ME. Recalling Benjamin Appel's enticing essay ‘Labels', one remembers his challenge: ‘open the books. ' To read any piece in TOUGH GUY WRITERS is to invite the temptation of reading every novel mentioned-so well does each critic ‘open the book. ' Writers discussed in this volume include James M. Cain, author of DOUBLE INDEMNITY; Raymond Chandler, author of THE LONG GOODBYE; the Britisher Richard Hollas (Eric Knight); Dashiell Hammett, author of the classic THE MALTESE FALCON; Ernest Hemingway, considered the father of the hard-boiled school; Horace McCoy, author of THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? ; and John O'Hara, whose APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA shows strains of the tough. The contributors are Kingsley Widmer, San Diego State College; Benjamin Appel, author of A TIME OF FORTUNE; Sheldon Grebstein, Harpur College; Philip Young, Pennsylvania State, Philip Durham, University of California, Los Angeles; Robert I. Edenbaum, Temple University; Irving Malin, City College of New York; Joyce Carol Oates, University of Windsor; Matthew J. Bruccoli, Ohio State University; Thomas Sturak, editor of an industrial journal; E. R. Hagemann, University of Louisville; Herbert Ruhm, State University of New York at New Paltz; and George...
