Not to interfere with the hugs, but I think the distinction
between noir and hardboiled is useful; more importantly, the
difference is real. Anyone comparing Chandler's _The Big
Sleep_ with Willeford's _The Burnt Orange Heresy_ or David
Goodis's _Cassidy's Girl_ or Jim Thompson's _The Killer
Inside Me_ (or with the work of Harrington and Jason Starr,
to speak of currently active writers), can see that there is
a difference in kind, not in degree. Likewise, there is a
difference between a film like _Point Blank_
(ultrahardboiled) and a film like _The Conversation_
(quintessential noir). However, the film noir category and
the novel noir category do not coincide even when the same
novel is adapted faithfully.
Yes, the two genres --or perhaps the two ways of writing
character and story-- do overlap often enough, but for me
they remain distinct. One example where hardboiled and noir
mix perfectly is Charles Williams's masterpiece _The Hot
Spot_. It is hardboiled because its characters are; it it
noir because the situations, the setting and the author's
machinations make it so.
Best,
MrT
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