Hardboiled

Hardboiled crime fiction is a uniquely American style pioneered by Dashiell Hammett, refined by Raymond Chandler, and endlessly imitated since by writers such as Mickey Spillane. Hardboiled fiction is most commonly associated with detective short stories and novels. It is distinguished by an unsentimental portrayal of crime, violence and sex.

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The name comes from a colloquial phrase of understatement. For an egg, being hard-boiled is comparatively tough. The counterpart detective would be stylistically referred to as an "armchair detective" and are considered "soft" in contrast because they do not have to deal with the darker themes of deceit and violence in a direct manner. A classic example might be Hercule Poirot.

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Crime fiction: Crime fiction is a genre of fiction that deals with crimes, their detection, criminals, and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred. It has several sub-genres, i...

American: :This page disambiguates the many uses of American. For an article about those various uses, please see Use of the word American....

Dashiell Hammett: "Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people who do it for a reason, not just to provide a corpse; and with means at hand, not with handwrought dueling pistols, curare, and tropical fish."...

Hardboiled related Images and Photos (experimental)

Hard Boiled

Hard-Boiled Breakfast Egg and Toast with Vegemite