Such a Critic! Julian Symons on Hard-boiled/Noir Crime Writers

my actual copy,
purchased about fifteen years ago

The English writer and critic Julian Symons (1912-1994) produced a distinguished body of work over a wide variety of fields, including, among many crime novels, his Victorian murder story The Blackheath Poisonings (1978; reviewed here) and, among his non-fiction, his landmark mystery genre survey, Bloody Murder (1972; rev. eds. 1984 and 1992).

Symons was one of the twentieth century's most important advocates for the elevation of crime fiction--the realistic exploration of crime in fictional form--over the traditional artificial, puzzle-oriented detective story.

As such, he has long been challenged by traditionalist detective fiction fans (he had a decades-long disagreement with the late traditionalist Jacques Barzun, 1907-2012, for example; see my Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery, 2012).

However, it is interesting also to note Symons' frequently something less than adulatory assessments of hard-boiled/noir writers.

Here are some quotations from his Bloody Murder (Chapter Ten, "The American Revolution"):

"Bloody Critic!"
(so might say the targets
of some of Symons'
critical judgments)

Cornell Woolrich: [Woolrich]...is at present a cult figure in America, 'one of the greatest suspense writers in the history of crime fiction,' as one enthusiast mistakenly puts it....the melodramatic silliness and sensationalism of many of his plots, and the continuous high-pitched whine of his prose...preclude him from serious consideration."

James M. Cain: "The sexual passages of [The Postman Always Rings Twice], which now seem commonplace, were shocking at the time, but what vitiates Cain's writing is a coarseness of feeling allied to a weakness for melodrama."

The vast majority of Black Mask/Dime Detective Writers: "....in spite of recent attempts to take seriously the now-forgotten pulp writers of the period, like Paul Cain (unrelated to James M.), Lester Dent, Norbert Davis and Raoul Whitfield, few of them had more than the elementary skill of describing violent action with some conviction."

Jim Thompson: "Jim Thompson (1906-1976), probably the best of [the successors to the Black Mask/Dime Detective writers], is no more than an efficient imitator of other writers in the genre, particularly James M. Cain, on the evidence of four novels recently reissued....What these writers lack is individuality, so that it is difficult to tell the work of one from another."

Symons does love Dashiell Hammett ("The Glass Key can stand comparison with any American novel of its decade") and he admires Raymond Chandler, with qualifications ("It must be said that in the inevitable comparison between Hammett and Chandler, Chandler comes off second best.  There was  a toughness in Hammett that Chandler lacked, and did not appreciate....Philip Marlowe becomes with each book more a piece of wish-fulfillment, an idealized expression of Chandler himself, a strictly literary conception").

That term "strictly literary conception" tells it all, I think.  Symons placed a high premium on realism in crime fiction and that attitude caused him not only to downgrade traditional, puzzle-oriented detective fiction but also what he saw as overly stylized and "melodramatic" hard-boiled/noir fiction. 

Many today would question his judgments of Woolrich, Cain, Thompson and other writers in the tough school. Still, whether you agree with him or not, Symons' Bloody Murder, the third edition of which is still in print, makes fascinating reading and is recommended.

Today people presumably are much less familiar with Symons' book than P. D. James' much more cursory Talking about Detective Fiction--the latter has 787 votes on Goodreads compared to Bloody Murder's 67--yet if one is looking for a popular survey, one should start with Symons.