Jim wrote:
"Here's a tip. When Lewis Carroll quoted Humpty-Dumpty as
saying, "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to
mean - neither more nor less," he wasn't seriously suggesting
a viable way of approaching language. He was trying to make
Humpty-Dumpty seem ridiculous."
Funny, I think that applies more to your approach: "When Jim
uses the word noir it means just what he chooses it to mean
-- neither more nor less."
And anyone who disagrees with him is wrong, as in:
"And, as I keep on telling you, "noir" isn't a genre, it's
way of describing a mood or an atmosphere. If a story has it,
it's noir; if it doesn't, it's not."
Well, that is certainly what you have chosen it to mean. You
later admit your choice is an inferrence. Doesn't that make
it interpretation, not fact? And doesn't that allow room for
others to draw their own conclusions from the same
evidence?
Also, are you honestly saying that the meanings of words do
not evolve over time? For instance, do you believe that
gunsel still means a homosexual (its original usage), and not
a gunman (how it came to be used and understood)?
"Duhamel didn't "define" it; he applied it, leaving it to us
to discern the common elements that all the books he
published under the SERIE NOIR logo had, and so to identify
the DEFINING elements.
"The common elements, and, in consequence, the DEFINING
elements, were a dark and sinister atmosphere, and (since
Kerry needs it spelled out) a crime story plot."
Are those the common elements of his book line? I must admit
that I don't know. Even if I buy an inductive definition of
the term (and I'm not sure I do), I'd need to see a list of
the books published under Serie Noir. Anyone got one?
Mark
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