[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: RARA-AVIS: Michael Collins/Japanese hardboiled fiction
I was just thinking that Woolrich's fiction most accurately represents
what I consider "noir" in writing, and it is true, his writing is not
hardboiled (and not simply bec. he doesn't write about detectives). I
don't think hardboiled and noir are interchangeable, but I think they
overlap. I would use noir to describe writing that concerns itself with
mental states/psychology, a sense of fear, alienation, anxiety, paranoia.
Harboiled refers (in my mind) to tone and attitude, to an idiomatic
writing that is relatively free of affect, clipped, terse, tough. To be
terribly oversimplified, noir deals w/ the interior, hardboiled the
exterior (which is not to say that hardboiled is "superficial" in the
pejorative sense). Lastly, I want to note that in Pronzini and Adrian's
*Hard-Boiled*, the editors frequently use "noir" to describe the HB world.
====================== =========================================
Michael D. Sharp "My time-wasting abilities are legendary!
msharp@umich.edu If only I could harness them as a force
Department of English for good!" -- Shaun M. Strohmer
University of Michigan
On Tue, 28 Jan 1997, Jiro Kimura wrote:
> At 01:49 PM 01.27.97 -0500, DOUGLAS GREENE wrote:
> >
> >Dark Suspense. Michael Collins created Dan Fortune, a one-armed PI,
> >back in the 50's --Edgar winner for best first novel. His stories may not be
> >quite tough enough for some
> >Rara-Avis people, but they're beautifully written and plotted.
> >
> Doug Green, one of the most knowledgeable guys in mysterydom, has mistyped
> the decade of Michael Collins' debut. Michael Collins, aka Dennis Lynds,
> got an MWA award for ACT OF FEAR (Dood Mead, 1967) featuring Dan Fortune, a
> one-armed PI. Slot Machine Kelly, prototype of Fortune, debuted in "It's
> Whiskey or Dames" (Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, Aug. 1962). Collins is
> one of the underevaluated fine private eye writers these days.
>
> I am very sorry for not answering sooner. One of my private eye stories
> has already been translated into English, but it is not available in the
> US, Canada or France. I will upload it to my web site some day. I will
> let you know when.
>
> One of Ryo Hara's private eye novel has been translated from Japanese into
> French and published in France. I forgot its French title. This novel got
> a Naoki Award, best entertainment novel of the year several years ago.
>
> I don't know what the term "hardboiled" really means, but I don't like to
> use the term "noir" for the same kind of fiction. I might use the term
> "noir" for the Cornell Woolrich films but I don't think Woolrich/Irish
> stories/films are hardboiled. Anyway, it is very interesting that everyone
> has a different conception and definition of "hardboiled." Maybe it is
> like love or happiness: there is no absolute definition.
>
> Jiro Kimura
> *********************************************
> Jiro Kimura
> Kanazawa, JAPAN
> e-mail: jkimura@nsknet.or.jp
> The Gumshoe Site (http://www.nsknet.or.jp/~jkimura/)
> *********************************************
>
> -
> # RARA-AVIS: To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis"
> # to majordomo@icomm.ca
>
-
# RARA-AVIS: To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis"
# to majordomo@icomm.ca
Follow-Ups:
References:
[Archives] | [RARA-AVIS]