Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Humor and irony in noir

From: DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net
Date: 22 Oct 2004


Jason wrote:

"I'm sure there are people out there who don't think Thompson, or Leonard, or Higgins, or even Willeford are funny at all,..."

And Geir asked:

"Hi J - I'm one of them. You really think these guys wrote their books to be funny?"

Speaking for myself, while I don't think any of them were writing comedy
(with the possible exception of a few of Leonard's, like The Switch, for instance), I do believe they intended their books to contain humor. Sometimes it's for comic relief, while at other times it's of the laugh instead of crying variety. I find it hard to believe that anyone could read any later Willeford (don't think this really applies to Pick Up, for instance) without laughing. Mario has pointed out examples from Woman Chaser and Burnt Orange Heresy. There are many more in Black Mass of Brother Springer and the Hoke Mosley books. For instance, how do you not laugh at the death of the Krishna at the beginning of Miami Blues, or, later in that same book, Junior stealing Hoke's teeth, and busting criminals with his badge and gun? I can also think of many examples in Thompson, especially in Pop 1280 and The Killer Inside Me. I'm less familiar with Higgins. And we've overlooked one of the masters of humor in noir, Ross Thomas.

Mark

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