-----Original Message----- From: Mario Taboada
"You forgot to mention the unquestioned legacies of both
Twain and Hemingway in the home-grown school."
I don't see a relation between Twain and Hemingway and the
noir type of story, though The Sun Also Rises is a marvellous
loser's story. I associate Twain, Hemingway and Hammett with
the tough and colloquial style that we call hardboiled. As I
write this, I feel uneasy because Twain wrote (tried to
write) the way people spoke, whereas Hemingway's language
sounds artificial. Well, maybe big-game hunters talk like
that to each other...
--Or would-be US samurai. Same sort of machismic
posture.
Twain's full of noir, if a heightened Tragic Sense of Life is
a component. The downriver sequences of FINN, the whole of
PUDD'NHEAD WILSON, and not a few of the more bitter shorter
work. Not exactly Cornell Woolrich, but the latter may've
appreciated the sense of doom present within these and other
Twain works.
I imagine "Snows of Kilimanjaro" could be made to fit, as
well. But clearly
"unquestioned" may not be the best available adjective.
TM
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