Violence, Victimization, and Absurdity in Horace McCoy’s Fiction

This article examines the connectedness between the depiction of violence and absurdity in the fiction of crime writer, Horace McCoy. It highlights the fact that although McCoy is considered to be one of the founders of hardboiled crime fiction, he challenged the generic conventions and stereotypical representations of the hardboiled genre by creating crime narratives that explore the psychology of criminals/victims and address the discourses on crime and victimization. By conducting an in-depth critical analysis and close reading of They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1935), I Should Have Stayed Home (1938) and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1948), this article argues that while McCoy’s fiction provides a sociopolitical critique of 1930s and 1940s America, it also brings forth a broader perspective with an absurdist vision that interrogates questions of universal concern, such as meaning, alienation, pessimism, and life and death. This article delineates the connections between violence and victimization, on the one hand, and the absurdity, on the other, in McCoy’s fiction, and shows how this connection is established through destabilizing the “hardboiled” formula and the “tough-guy” persona popular in this genre. Ultimately, McCoy creates a fictional world full of questions and doubts, where violence and victimization are the manifestations of the existential absurdity that is evident throughout his work.