> Mark E. Hall wrote:
> > I guess this would be my question overall---how
the heck are you
> > defining Southern Gothic?
> > By setting alone, or by the author's personal
history, etc.? I mena
for
> > example, by many scholars Bierce is seen as a
California writer, not
a
> > Southern Gothic writer.
>
> Also, Bill Denton asked how it related to
noir.
>
> *************
> I am defining Southern Gothic as noir that is
distinctly Southern.
That's
> southern USA. SANCTUARY makes the grade and had a
strong
> influence on noir, period. Very dark and twisted. It
involved crime
> that went beyond the profit motive and way into a
wicked Freudian
> nightmare.
>
> I put Harry Crews's FEAST OF SNAKE in the same
category. And
> Dickey's DELIVERANCE too. I might even give the tag
to Caldwell's
> TOBACCO ROAD. Anybody that thinks that book is
simply funny
> and not scary isn't reading it the same way I
do.
>
> I've heard that Woodrell, Flannery O'Connor, and a
few others fit the
> bill, too, but I haven't read them.
>
> Southern Gothic is hardcore hardboiled and noir.
There are some
> specific characteristics which I have found common
to the three or
four
> I have read besides being tough and colloquial and
dark and sinister.
> Sex. Raw, nasty, violent, or deviant. Crime that
don't have a damn
thing
> to do with money. Crime for the pleasure of it
(SANCTUARY,
> DELIVERANCE). Crime 'cuz they're just sick of it all
and feel like
doing
> some killin' (FEAST OF SNAKES). Crime that they're
too damn stupid
> to even recognize as crime (TOBACCO
ROAD).
>
> Hardcore. Hardboiled. Noir.
>
> miker
I think you could definitely make a case for Woodrell being
both Southern Gothic and noir. Probably Barry Gifford also
(blessed be his name forever for bringing the original Black
Lizard into existence, even though I've become a hopeless
noirotic as a result). I think Southern Gothic is a near
relative of noir, kissing cousins, as it were and
particularly with more recent authors there is lot of
overlap. Crews I haven't read yet but I would think he might
be a candidate. And what about James Lee Burke? - I would
place him more within the Southern Gothic tradition than noir
or hardboiled. I also think you're right re: Faulkner. He
certainly had a more noticeable influence on Burke than
Hammett, Chandler or any other nominally hardboiled or noir
authors, for instance. And back in the mists of time, Ol'
Granny Gothic, the venerable ancestor of all our favourite
genres, sub-genres & styles.
Rene
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