At 05:04 AM 28/09/2005 -0700, you wrote:
>Guess it's time for me to pipe up and disagree with
a
>recent idea that has come up about noir. The
concept
>I disagree with is that noir implies we're
all
>screwed. That is not noir. In noir, the
protagonist
>is screwed. Big difference. A big and
really
>significant difference.
A very comforting point of view, but I'm reasonably certain
you're going to die too miker, and if you don't, then you're
likely in for a big disappointment.
That's just my point of view, of course, but generally in
fiction readers are meant to identify with the protagonist.
If he/she is screwed, we should be feeling the same way at
least as long as it takes to read the book. Otherwise, I'd
suggest the book is a failure, at least for that particular
reader.
If we remove universality from the definition of noir, what
have we got left to separate this genre from other
crime-writing? It reduces the genre to one of atmospherics:
in other mysteries the murder takes place in a small-town
vicarage during broad daylight, in noir it happens in
rain-slicked back alleys at night. The inclusion of dark
descriptive passages in a book is inadequate to define the
genre. But maybe that's my ego at play.
I suspect though, that if you really believe only some are
doomed while others can rise above their "true" natures,
you'd find more satisfying reading in the self-help section
of the bookstore.
Best, Kerry
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