Re: Definition of hardboiled (was Re: RARA-AVIS:

James Rogers (jetan@ionet.net)
Tue, 16 Feb 1999 06:20:32 -0600 (CST) At 01:24 AM 2/16/99 -0500, you wrote:
><<Which of these do think is not hard boiled:
>
>Stark's Parker series
>Gores'DKA series
>Willeford's Burnt Orange Heresy
>Fleming's James Bond series
>Hamilton's Matt Helm series
>The first three of Parker's Spenser series
>Hammett's The Thin Man
>Goodis' Dark Passage
>Leonard's Get Shorty
>Coben's Bolitar series
>Kaminsky's Toby Peters series>>
>
>I would say that only the Willeford (a noir-comic-existentialist novel)
>and the Hammett (a traditional mystery-screwball comedy) are not
>hardboiled. They don't have hardboiled characters or situations. I
>should say that I have only read Coben's first Bolitar book, so my
>sample of his work is small.
>
>Regards,
>
>mt
>
I reach exactly the opposite result....I would say that only the
Hammett and the Willeford *are* hardboiled. The rest strike me as imitation
goods, though sometimes fun. I don't find Bond hardboiled at all, for
instance....more like Fu Manchu novels.

James
James Michael Rogers
jetan@ionet.net
Mundus Vult Decipi

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