THE ARTFUL DETECTIVES OF DASHIELL HAMMETT, RAYMOND CHANDLER, AND ROSS MACDONALD: THE USES OF LITERARY STYLE
Abstract
All the world loves a mystery, and much of the reading public has always loved detective stories. That devotion has several sources: the challenge of the puzzle, the charm of the characters, and the telling of the tale. One attraction in detective fiction lies in the conflict between chaotic events and characters' attempts to order and explain these events correctly. The "telling" aspect of detective works is another significant, but less-discussed, source of interest in this resilient genre. Dashiell Hammett's novels all present expansions of the conventions of the detective novel with his presentation of certain recurring themes and motifs; the novels also depict some of the complexities of human personality and action through the presentation of the complicated feelings and motivations of Hammett's characters by means of his sensitive use of two narrative stances and his studied and evocative use of ambiguity and irony in the language and structure of the novels. Raymond Chandler refined certain characteristics of the hard-boiled detective novel to provide a second-level "literary" interest. His development of a complex, less rational pattern of mystery and method of resolution, his consistent use of an emotionally and psychologically complex narrator, his experiments with figurative language and literary allusions, and his attention to and development of significant literary themes that reflect problems common to the human condition are all features used to expand and change our expectations of what a detective novel could and should contain. Ross Macdonald's consistent attention to the human dimensions of the mystery is the distinctive feature of his works. The Archer novels describe characters caught up in the interplay of individual, familial, and societal demands, and in the works we see the causes, effects, and consequences of such tensions. His attention to themes, character, and setting and a flexible and expressive style combine to make his works fine examples of complicated detective novels that function equally well on the mystery and literary levels. The novels of writers like Robert B. Parker and James Crumley illustrate the continuing vitality of the literary hard-boiled tradition begun by Hammett and Chandler and extended by Macdonald.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
American literature
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