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by Otto Penzler ISBN: 0-307-28048-9 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 06 November, 2007 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Big and comprehensive
Comment: any compilation is open to criticism as to what was omitted. but if you're looking for a really big compilation of writing in this genre, it's tough to beat this. and, the introductions for each author are a nice added touch for those of us who know only the big names.
highly recommended.
Rating: 4
Summary: Pulp Fiction
Comment: Cover blurb: "The best crime stories from the pulps during their golden age--the '20s, '30s, & '40s."
This collection of pulp fiction weighs in at 1141 pages of stories about crime fighters, villains, and dames. The stories, written for cheap magazines that paid writers a penny a word or less for fast-moving formulaic fiction, vary in quality and length, but have much in common: absurd action, slangy dialogue, chain-smoking whiskey-slugging detectives and policemen, sexist treatment of women, and minimal description of settings invariably dark and dangerous.
The size of the collection and the variety of authors of varying abilities brought together in this large collection made me take notice of a couple of interesting and sometimes disturbing themes I had not noticed reading past pulp fiction.
--an underlying assumption of racism. The gang members are invariably Italian, while policemen and detectives often have Irish names, setting up an unspoken racial conflict between the older Irish and newer Itialian immigrants. African-Americans are usually stereotyped as grotesquely obsequious, or referred to by a variety of ethnic slurs not repeatable today. The racism is part of the visceral language and violent action of the heroes in these stories, and therefore most disturbingly not just acceptable but expected and relished by contemporary readers.
--the driving impetus of Prohibition. While the liquor-ban was in effect during this entire period, alcohol was readily available and heavily consumed, but its supply was controlled by criminals and its demand was driven by weak men and women who frequented dark places which bred crime and social disorder. Nowhere in these stories is there any debate about the value of Prohibition, it is merely part of the background that is blithely ignored by all classes and races, and even the legal system itself.
--classism, directed both upward toward the wealthy and downward to the poorest. The rich are at best objects of envy, and usually derogated as weak, stupid, grasping, or undeserving usurpers of the labor of those below them; this feeling is shared by both the criminals and the crime fighters in these stories, the crime fighters often with the hinted feeling that they are unwilling and underpaid lackeys guarding riches they will never touch.
Meanwhile, at the bottom rung of society, the poorest, while sometimes the beneficiaries of Robin Hoods who disperse their criminal gains downward, most often face the irrational hatred of those just above them on the social ladder whose grip on the rung depends on their stolen wealthy. Even the most sympathetic policemen consider the poor to be the breeding ground of the criminal element; the more cynical seem to blame the criminal mind on the weakness of poverty.
--an absence of technology, particularly cell phones, that made it possible for those who wanted to disappear to do so with a readiness not possible today. Without the ubiquitous cell phone, it is amazing the number of times in every story that the intrepid detective or scheming criminal must plan his next actions around the location of an available phone. Drug stores are most often frequented to find a phone booth, not to make a purchase.
A serious study of these elements in the extant body of pulp fiction would be a fascinating companion to the history of the United States in the 1920s through 1940s. In the meantime, the reader can enjoy these stories. The sheer size of the collection, given the limitations of the genre, lead to some repetitiveness, but the reader can understand and enjoy the qualities of the better writers, and the endearing campiness of the worst.
Rating: 5
Summary: Transports you back to the days of Bogart, Cagney, Boston Blacky, Charlie Chan and The Untouchables - A GREAT READ
Comment: This book may be the most enjoyable read I have encountered in many a year - Otto Penzler has not only assembled a treasure trove of sometimes clever, often exciting and always fun whodunits; he has presented the reader with a veritable time machine. These stories were originally published in monthly "pulp" magazines in the 20s,30s and 40s, and they place the reader squarely into the essence of those decades. We learn so much of the popular culture of those times - the cars, the slang, attitudes towards romance, towards issues of crime and punishment - consumer products - It was a blast to read and almost made me wish I were alive in those good old bad days. Well Done!
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Title:The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories ASIN: B0012BR8L0 Publisher: Carroll & Graf List Price(USD): Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for |
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