The Postman Always Rings Twice | Literary Precedents
Partly because of the widespread currency of Wilson's essay (it is still frequently quoted today), partly because of the time when Cain published his first novels, Cain is usually grouped with Hammett and Chandler. But Cain's hard-boiled fiction departs from the tradition established by his contemporaries, for in Cain's works no detection process is involved. Cain tells astonishingly early in his novels, often before the close of the first chapter, who committed the crime and why. Cain employs the tough-guy mode, then, not for the purpose of executing a who-dun-it, but to give an...
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