Lurker here to put in my opinion.
Bill Denton makes the point: "History is full of bleak and
tragic twisted stories, as well as tough people trying to do
what's right in a world of evil, but that doesn't mean
they're noir or hardboiled stories (or even proto-). The
writing style key, and it didn't come along until the
twentieth century."
I read an article this morning that said: "In literature, the
connection
(with the Blues) is just as enduring. Ralph Ellison, author
of "Invisible Man," wrote that 'I suspect that the one body
of music which expresses the United States - which expresses
this continent - is jazz and blues.'
"Ellison's novel, a signal work of 20th-century literature,
employed the rhythms and improvisational tendencies of the
blues, as well as jazz.
"Authors like Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and Raymond
Chandler had the blues whether they ever heard it or not. In
their novels - populated by downbeat characters caught up in
circumstances they could neither predict nor prevent,
sometimes as a consequence of their own folly - there's an
essence of the blues. Still others close the circle: the
baton's been passed, from Langston Hughes to Walter
Mosley."
That got me to thinking that the Blues and hardboiled came
into full bloom at about the same time here in America. Sure
there were roots to each - shouts, hollers and rags for the
blues - but it wasn't until W. C. Handy, Charlie Patton,
Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson and a few others laid
down their first recordings that the Blues was born. And that
coincided with Carroll John Daly, Dashiell Hammett and the
Cap Shaw school of Black Mask hardboiled literature.
Interesting parallel.
Now, back to lurking.
Neil
If ever there was a case of clearer evidence than this of
persons acting in concert together, this case is that
case!
-- Sir R. Megarry
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