WESTERN AND HARD-BOILED DETECTIVE FICTION IN AMERICA

WESTERN AND HARD-BOILED DETECTIVE FICTION IN AMERICA

Western and Hard Boiled Detective Fiction in America From High Noon to Midnight Cynthia S. Hamilton M MACMILLAN PRESS

Cynthia S. Hamilton 1987 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1987 978-0-333-40495-9 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1987 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Hamilton, Cynthia S. Western and hard-boiled detective fiction in America: from high noon to midnight. 1. Detective and mystery stories, American - History and criticism I. Title 813'.0872'09 PS374.D4 ISBN 978-1-349-08392-3 ISBN 978-1-349-08390-9 (ebook) DOl 10.1007/978-1-349-08390-9

For my family who kept wanting to know when it would be finished

Contents Preface Acknowledgements Introduction ix xi 1 PART ONE THE STUDY OF FORMULA LITERATURE 1 The Historical Frame 2 The Layering of Contexts 3 Formula and the Marketplace 9 36 50 PART TWO THE WRITER AND THE FORMULA 4 Zane Grey 5 Frederick Faust 6 Dashiell Hammett 7 Raymond Chandler 71 94 120 146 Bibliography Index 172 192 vii

Preface There are a number of people I should like to thank. My husband has undoubtedly contributed more to the successful completion of this project than anyone else. He has acted as sounding-board, typist, and on occasion as research assistant. He has also done the dishes. Marcus Cunliffe supervised the initial stages of my research and writing on the American adventure formula, and has continued to take an active interest in my work. Rupert Wilkinson's meticulous reading of my dissertation was invaluable. I am grateful for his time and patience, as well as for the discomforting accuracy of his criticisms. Cindy Pateras has provided a great deal of bad coffee and good advice on the craft of writing. John Whitley and Geoffrey Hemstedt have taken a helpful interest in my project, for which I am grateful. My daughter contributed a great deal of eager interest, both in whatever I happened to be working on at the moment, and in the timing of her supper. My editor, Frances Arnold, has been both helpful and patient. Although I had formulated my own approach to formula literature before reading John G. Cawelti's work, his The Six-Gun Mystique and Adventure, Mystery, and Romance have certainly helped to shape my own thinking. Although I admire his work, I have reservations about his theoretical framework. Richard Bridgman's notion of colloquial style, and Philip Durham's identification of the concept and components of the objective technique have provided the framework for my discussions of style, though the insights on individual writers made possible by their groundwork are my own. John Paterson's fine essay on the private eye had the effect of immediately crystallising what had previously been nebulous. Robert Edenbaum and Steven Marcus did me a similar service for Hammett's work. I have relied heavily on a number of biographies, mainly for facts, but occasionally for some insight: ix

x Preface White on Wister, Gruber on Grey, Easton on Faust, Layman on Hammett, and MacShane on Chandler. While this book covers much of the same ground as my doctoral dissertation, 'American Dreaming: The American Adventure Formula in the Western and Hard-Boiled Detective Novel, 1890-1940' (1984), the reader may wish to refer to the dissertation for a fuller discussion of Owen Wister. The dissertation also contains a more detailed assessment of the approaches and issues which emerge from a survey of critical studies on the Western and hard-boiled detective formulas. In the Introduction and the chapters that follow, I have used the following format for referencing: (a: b); 'a' refers the reader to the numbered bibliography, where full particulars of the work cited can be found, and 'b' identifies the page(s), or volume and page(s), in question. c. S. H.

Acknowledgements The author and publishers wish to thank the following who have kindly given permission for the use of copyright-material: Dodd, Mead and Co. Inc., for the extracts from The Notebooks and Poems of 'Max Brand', copyright 1957 by Dorothy Faust, copyright renewed 1985 by Judith Faust, Jane F. Easton and John Frederick Faust; Zane Grey Inc., for the extracts from The Border Legion, The Lone Star Ranger and The Wanderer of the Wasteland by Zane Grey; the University of Oklahoma Press, for the extracts from Max Brand: The Big 'Westerner' by Robert Easton, copyright 1970 by the University of Oklahoma Press; Alfred A. Knopf Inc., for the extracts from The Maltese Falcon and Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett; the late Mrs Helga Greene, College Trustees Ltd and Alfred A. Knopf Inc., for the extracts from The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler; the late Mrs Helga Greene and College Trustees Ltd, for the extracts from Raymond Chandler Speaking, edited by Dorothy Gardiner and Kathrine Sorley Walker. xi