>Lawrence R. (Dick) Tartow, M.D. wrote:
>>And since "hard-boiled detectives" are
indifferent
>> to violence, I really don't think that there are
any female
hard-boiled
>> types. Tough, unsentimental, yes. But
"indifferent to violence"? I
>> think not.
I don't think of hardboiled characters as indifferent to
violence. They
may
not be naive about violence. They surely encounter plenty of
it, but I
think
the term 'indifferent' is off-target. Indifference to
violence is more
the
domain of a sociopath.
Sch.
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The definition was quoted from the Encyclopedia Britannica (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate=AE Dictionary) hard-boiled adj. (1886) 1 a: devoid of sentimentality: tough <a ~ drill sergeant> b: of, relating to, or being a detective story featuring a tough unsentimental protagonist and a matter-of-fact attitude towards violence 2: hardheaded, practical <handle aid programs on a friendly but ~ business basis --N.Y. Times> Copyright =A9 1994-1998 Encyclop=E6dia Britannica, Inc. and Copyright =A9= 1994 Merriam-Webster, Incorporated
The unabridged OED has no listing for hard-boiled or hardboiled.
However, The 2nd Edition of The Reader's Encyclopedia (edited by William Rose Benet) offers the following:
hard-boiled fiction. A type of detective or crime story current in 20th century American literature. A sense of realism is generated by laconic and often vulgar dialogue, through the depiction of cruelty and bloodshed at close range, and the use of sordid environments. The genre was closely associated with the magazine Black Mask (founded 1919) and with its editor Joseph T. Shaw, who compiled The Hardboiled Omnibus: Early Stories of Black Mask (1946). Among the writers of hard-boiled fiction are Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, George Harmon Coxe, and W.R. Burnett. At first, such fiction was a serious attempt not dissimilar in aim to the work of such major writers as Ernest Hemingway and John DosPassos; later, it tended to degenerate into the sensationalism and undisguised sadism of writers like Mickey Spillaine
As a friend of mine put it "Hardboiled is a literary genre, not a sociological genre. "
You say, "I think the term 'indifferent' is off-target. Indifference to violence is more the domain of a sociopath."
That's in life, not in fiction. In real life it is the domain of professional boxers and their fans, and sociopaths.
No amount of political correctness or newspeak or silly-ass revisionism can change certain realities. "Dickless dicks." indeed!
Dick Tartow ---The opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and any insult is purely intentional
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