RE: RARA-AVIS: Frederick Nebel, a fun pulpster

From: Robison Michael R CNIN ( Robison_M@crane.navy.mil)
Date: 09 Oct 2002


Mario said: Inspired by our proposed historical survey of the hardboiled genre, I slightly updated a nostalgia review of Frederick Nebel's _The Adventures of Cardigan_ (an anthology of Dime Detective novelettes from the thirties).

I reread a couple of the stories, which are great, lowbrow fun. There is a special animal freshness in these violent tales. Yes, they are old and slangy, but once you're into them, you are sure to get caught. It's a glimpse of the testosteronic thrill that the original pulp readers must have felt.

***************** I felt the same way about Carroll John Daly's SNARL OF THE BEAST. I haven't read a lot of hardcore pulp and it was a shock to begin with but after a while I got used to Race's continuously boisterous and cocky attitude and thought it was a fun book, even if it isn't a great landmark in literature. Actually, it probably is a landmark, being the first hardboiled detective novel.

miker

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