----- Original Message ----- From: "JIM DOHERTY" <
jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com>
Al originally wrote: Basically, the theory goes, most
so-called crime novels are
"anti-crime" novels. In other words, solving the crime is
paramount (police procedurals and PI novels, for example).
"Crime" novels, on the other hand, are written from the
viewpoint of the criminal or victim (gangster novels,
Woolrich, Cain, Goodis, Thompson, Brewer, Russell James),
whose plight is paramount.
Jim responded:
> The reason your analysis doesn't really work
(and
> don't get me wrong here; it may work for you, but
it's
> not how "noir" is commonly used), is that there
are
> many books/stories/films accurately, or at
least
> commonly, described as noir, that are also
anti-crime.
>
> For example, Cornell Woolrich, who is to "noir"
what
> Hammett is to "hard-boiled," McBain is to
"police
> procedural," and Christie is to "cozy," writes
what
> you refer to as "anti-crime" far more often than
he
> writes "crime." That is, there is a criminal,
opposed
> by the hero who emerges triumphant when he (and,
in
> Woolrich, very often "she") vanquishes the
criminal.
> Now, in a Woolrich story, this triumph is more
often
> likely to come about through chance, caprice, and
the
> vicissitudes of fate, than it is from the
hero's
> resourcefulness, but, however it happens, the
hero
> wins when he solves the crime. Very often, in
fact,
> Woolrich's hero is a cop (though there's no attempt
at
> the "technical verity" that distinguishes the
police
> procedural).
Jim, forget about "noir" for a minute. The key point is that
the viewpoint of criminal or victim classifies the novel as
"crime". Here are a few Woolrich examples:
"The Bride Wore Black" - Her husband was killed on their
wedding day on the steps of the church. She swore vengeance
on five men. Protagonist=victim=(see definition
above)"crime"
"Phantom Lady" - He was awaiting execution. The only chance
to prove his innocene was a woman who had disappeared from
the face of the earth. Protagonist=victim="crime"
"Waltz Into Darkness" - He knew he had married the wrong
woman. But he couldn't help loving her even after she stole
all his money and tried to kill him.
Protagonist=victim="crime"
"The Black Path Of Fear" - Scotty thought he had everything
he wanted - Eve, jewels and freedom...suddenly she was dead
and he was accused of her murder.
Protagonist=victim="crime"
"The Black Angel" - She descended into the black world of
drugs, prostitution and gambling, all to prove her husband's
innocence. Protagonist=victim="crime"
Woolrich may have written others that fit the "anti-crime"
classification. And why not? Francis Nevins says, "The reader
can never know in advance whether a particular Woolrich story
will be light or dark." I haven't read any of the cop-as-hero
stories but I guarantee (and this was my point) that I won't
like them as much as the ones about the "scared little man in
his tiny apartment with no job, no money, a hungry wife and
children, and anxiety eating him like a cancer, who then
discovers that his wife has vanished in such a way that not
only can he not find her but he can't convince anyone that
she ever existed and, after coming to after a blackout, he
little by little becomes certain that it was he who killed
her" (Nevins, again, but not a direct quote).
Protagonist=victim="crime".
Jim again:
> To use my favorite examples from film (since
"film
> noir" is how the term came to be applied to
prose
> fiction in this country), MURDER, MY SWEET is
the
> quintessential film noir. It's also a
hard-boiled
> private eye story. MARLOWE, which features the
same
> lead character, isn't noir at all. That's not
a
> knock. MARLOWE is a very enjoyable film, but
the
> visual approach the director (Paul Bogart) takes
isn't
> anything like the dark, sinister visuals that
makes
> Edward Dmytryk's version of Chandler so
memorable.
I have no desire to redefine "noir". A huge percentage of
"noir" which I've read has been in the "crime" category, but
that's incidental. Let me repeat my original
conclusion.
> For example, Stark's Parker novels, which I like
a
> lot, aren't "dark and sinister" (to my mind
they're
> "tough and colloquial"). But they fit in the
"crime" category. So, for
me,
> whether a book is hardboiled or noir tells me less
than if it's
> "crime" or "anti-crime".
Take your example above: "Murder, My Sweet", a noir film
based on a hardboiled PI story. I am confused. These
definitions seem arbitrary. If I class both as "anti-crime",
I am no longer confused.
BTW, a bent cop/PI is a criminal and a cop/PI who has
suffered a bereavement is a victim.
Keep me on my toes, Jim. Nice debating with you.
Al Guthrie
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