Mr. Borgers,
Thank you for the questions. I wanted to give it a little
thought before I answered. It's a hard one.
"Is it a voluntary exploration of the noir variations, or is
it more a
kind of way for you to avoid routine and repeats in your
novels ? Or is it because of something else…"
The short answer is that no. It's not just variations
and yet it obvious is, as even my political thrillers,
American Boys and Red Jungle have what people perceive as
noirish elements. (Is that simply drama on a high order? I
honestly don't know. Is that what noir is beginning to mean?
I'd like to hear what others think?)
I believe that my books have been a conscious and
unconscious journey towards something. All my work I think is
part of this journey taken in a very weird looking hand-built
car!
Dia and Dark Ride are joined at the hip in the sense
that they are obviously rooted in the American noir
tradition. The atmospherics are similar although there is
something particularly modern about the atmospherics in Dia.
Perhaps the idea that the homosexual state of mind is a now
common reality of our modern world (Celeste's bi-sexuality)
and that this is shown in an unflinching manner in Dia this
my be "new" if you will. Or, perhaps the picture of Tijuana
that seems to be the blue print for all cities now is "new".
(What one economist called private opulence and public
squalor.)
So, what I'm trying to get at is the noir experiments
that were Dark Ride and then Dia show some kind of progress
vis-a-vis the noir tradition. American Boys and Red Jungle
were different. They are in the Le Carre, Graham Greene mode
and would have to be analyzed differently. By the way, I've
also written a comedy!
I've never wanted to replete myself, so that has
definitely been a factor in my work. My feeling is that if
I'm not deeply interested in the novel, why in god's name
would anyone else be. And this brings up an important
question. The matter of routine as you mention in your
question. I try to avoid it at all costs in my work. Routine
is easier by far, but it's no journey.
"E.Borgers" <
webeurop@yahoo.fr> wrote: Mr Harrington, I'm very glad
to welcome you on our list !
I've read only : DARK RIDE, DIA DE LOS MUERTOS and THE
AMERICAN BOYS. I really liked them, with a personal
preference for DIA.
After reading these 3 novels and seeing they are a sequence
in your recent production, I had the impression (probably
false) that you were exploring, at the time, some of the
different paths of noir/HB:
-To me "Dark Ride" is James Cain revisited by Jim Thompson
and Kent Harrington. A modernized classic noir vein… (and
this is really not a negative comment)
-"Dia…" is obviously this kind of violent modern noir, close
to some thrillers, that so many tried these last years (IMO
rarely succeeding).
-"American Boys" being a spy-thriller novel descending into
noir territory (and I must say it's done here with brio, as
I'm normally not quickly impressed by spy novels and/ or
thrillers)
Is it a voluntary exploration of the noir variations, or is
it more a kind of way for you to avoid routine and repeats in
your novels ? Or is it because of something else…
Thanks in advance for your comment.
E.Borgers HARD-BOILED MYSTERIES http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6384
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
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