The Hard-Boiled Detectives: A Look into the Gritty World of Noir Fiction
The crime fiction genre was nothing new when hard-boiled detective fiction emerged in the United States during the early 20th century. This subgenre has its roots in the pulp magazines of the 1920s and 1930s. From there, it evolved into a popular—and now respectable—literary genre.
But before going into more detail about the evolution of the genre, what are the hard-boiled detective stories about?
The simplest way to answer is that the genre is characterized by its tough, cynical, and often violent protagonists who operate outside of the law to bring justice to the criminal underworld. Most of the time, it’s about private detectives who evolve in a gritty, urban landscape that is rife with corruption, vice, and violence. They are lone wolves motivated by a personal code of honor rather than a desire for justice or even a sense of duty to the law.
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