The Value of Hard-Boiled Mystery Fictions in Red Harvest

The Value of Hard-Boiled Mystery Fictions in Red Harvest

Purpose: Hard-boiled mystery fictions were treated as low-level literature simply because they were mostly published in cheap pulp magazines and their readers were mostly uneducated manual workers. Thus, by exam-ining the circumstances of the time portrayed in Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest, the influence of Red Harvest on other fields of art and its background, and how Dashiell Hammett viewed the chaotic US society at the time and suggested solutions, the author intends to re-evaluate the value of the hard-boiled mystery fictions. Method: First, this paper is intended to examine the characteristics of the characters in the hard-boiled mys-tery fiction, the story development, and how Hammett reflects the chaotic US society in the 1920s in his work with focus on Red Harvest. Second, Red Harvest influenced later films Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars. By exam-ining how Red Harvest was incorporated into other fields of art. Results: Through Red Harvest, it could be seen that the detective in the hard-boiled mystery fictions was por-trayed as a worker demanding remuneration, unlike previous righteous detectives and that the evil, the basis of the story, was not limited to individuals, but was prevalent in social structures such as villains, capitalists, and public authorities, thus reflecting the situation of the time. As a result, the author could find the justification for the hard-boiled mystery fiction to be re-valuated as valuable literature in that it reflected the situation of the time, suggested solutions, and influenced other fields of art. Conclusion: Hard-boiled mystery fictions, in fact, gave the most vivid view of the situation of the time. The need of most ordinary people, who were treated ignorant but in fact supported the chaotic era, for social purifi-cation could be seen through the detective. These merits were attractive enough to be incorporated into other fields of art, such as film. Thus, hard-boiled mystery fictions should no longer be treated as low-level literature, and their value should rather be re-evaluated.