Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[karikaririka]

I�m reading an essay about mystery novels. I�m poor at English, so it is very difficult to me. I would be happy if you could help me.
After dealing with the origin of the American mystery, it says as follows.
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Obviously much has happened in American mystery stories since Chandler. Women have found a comfortable and invigorating place within the form. The story of the hero has diversified in gender, in race, in locale, in sexual preference. But, as you will see in this collection, the stories remain the story of the hero's "adventure in search of a hidden truth." They are stories about a hero "fit for adventure" in a time when stories of far bluer blood are still stuck in that bleak corner of the wasteland where Spade took Hammett.
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I can�t understand the last sentence. "fit for adventure" means �suitable for adventure�? Or �ready for adventure�? Does �a time� in this sentence mean �a period�? And is it mean �when stories of far bluer blood are still stuck in that bleak corner of the wasteland where Spade took Hammett.� ?

[pugachevV]

Sam Spade was the hero or protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's Story "The Maltese Falcon" as well as a couple of other less famous stories.
He was characterised by his cold detachment, keen eye for detail, and unflinching determination to achieve his own sort of justice. He is a man who has seen the wretched, the corrupt, the tawdry side of life ( the bleak wasteland) but still retains his "tarnished idealism".

Blue blood means ofnoble birth so,Stories of far bluer blood means "stories of far better pedigree", i.e of more literary merit.

[karikaririka]

How kind of you!
I'm deeply impressed.
So,"a time"="when stories of far bluer blood are ------"? and does this sentence mean "They are stories about heros who are suitable for the adventure in the world like where Spade lives "?

[pugachevV]

It means that the stories in the collection are not necessarily like the stories set in the "bleak wasteland" of writers like Dashiell Hammett, even though those stories may be of more literary merit.
The stories in the collection do have a hero in search of adventure and "hidden truths".
The hero is not always a heterosexual, cynical, hard-bitten, caucasian man, as in former times, but may be homosexual, black , asian, or hispanic and may, equally, be a woman.

These are not the kind of stories that your grandfather used to read.

[karikaririka]

Owing to your explanation, I could understand it very well.
I cannot thank you enough.