Comfort factors, moral fantasy and social criticism in formulaic fiction : a study of literary formulas with particular reference to the 'hard-boiled' detective story

The so-called 'hard-boiled' detective story is probably one of the most successful formulaic fictive patterns to be developed this century; and has been translated very effectively into popular film and television drama. Its founding fathers are normally deemed to be Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. A study of their works should provide a valuable insight into the structure of their patterns and how they are made to work to the public's satisfaction. After all, the one indisputable and verifiable matter in the whole business is that these sort of texts appeal to great numbers of people who read them because they enjoy reading them. Some of the interesting questions thus revolve around the issue of why these fictions are so well liked. However, a study of literary formulas assumes the necessity of demonstrating what those particular formulas are. There are three predominating structures which, to my mind, build this kind of fiction into its finished shape. Firstly, there are the comfort factors which offer the reader a sense of security. Secondly, there is their sense of moral fantasy which allows the reader to escape from the confines of their everyday lives. And thirdly, in the best of these works, there is some element of the new and/or the unconventional, often in the form of social and political criticism encapsulated within the safe formulas of the text. This adds the necessary spice to the life of the construct.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of English Language and Literature

Year dc:date.issued

1998

Author dc:creator

• Roote, Christonie St Martin

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17941

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/17941