Geir,
Re your question below:
> Jim - thanks. But could you please elaborate a
bit
> on the difference
> between the two concepts? Misinterpretations
don't
> get anyone of us
> anywhere.
I'll try to illustrate what I'm talking about by some
examples.
Both Hard-Boiled and Noir:
Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer books, and particularly ONE
LONELY NIGHT. Mike's as tough as they come and the books have
a colloquial style; ergo, hard-boiled. But the books (and
particularly OLN) take place in a stark, dark, nocturnal,
almost other-worldly atmosphere, where Mike's forever walking
through darkened, rainswept concrete canyons; ergo
noir.
Hard-Boiled but NOT Noir:
Richard S. Prather's Shell Scott, a character with virtually
the same world-view and backstory as Hammer
(WW2 vet in the Pacific; PI in big city; best friend the
Captain of Homicide, hates commies, etc.) is tough and
colloquial, ergo hard-boiled. But he works in sunny, daylight
Southern California, which gives even his less humorous
adventures a less dark, less sinister atmosphere, ergo NOT
noir.
Noir but NOT hard-boiled:
No one would ever describe Daphne du Maurier's REBECCA as
hard-boiled. The heroine's so mousy and shy, it's almost
painful, and everyone else has that veddy, veddy upper-class
British manner about them. And the style is very formal and
correct. But few books have evoked such a dark, foreboding,
sininster atmosphere. It's no coincidence that the film
version is one of the closest Hitchcock ever got to noir.
Ergo noir, but not hard-boiled.
Significantly, neither the hard-boiledness (or lack of it)
nor the noirness (or lack of it) of any of these books has
anything to do with the world-view of either the characters
or of the authors. It's all a matter of style and
atmosphere.
Tough and colloquial = hard-boiled.
Dark and sinister = noir.
Tough and collquial, and dark and sinister = hard-boiled and
noir.
JIM DOHERTY
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