In a message dated 12/15/03 10:00:19 PM Eastern Standard
Time,
owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca writes:
<<
"Noir's" atmosphere. That's all it is. All that
other stuff, the pessimism, the nihilism, the
fatalism, and the defeatism, might be important
movements within crime fiction but they're not the
sum
total of "noir." There's too many other things
that
ARE "noir," but aren't that, for that to be what
defines noir. But what it all has in common is a
dark
and sinister atmosphere, so it follows that the
atmospheric elements are also the defining
elements.
JIM DOHERTY
>>
I think I understand it now. Thanks, Jim, for getting that
sorted. Now I have to figure out where I would rank Wilkie
Collins' THE MOONSTONE among great noir novels. It's a fine
novel with dark and sinister atmosphere dripping from every
page. Tentatively, I would put it above Mickey Spillane's ONE
LONELY NIGHT but I would appreciate your thoughts.
Richard Moore
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