As I pondered the subject of hardboiled and noir criticism
over the last few months, I found it separating itself out
into two overlapping topics. The first is a discussion of
existing criticism, the second an examination of the literary
theory that the criticism is based upon. Concerning existing
hardboiled criticism, I've written a few short reviews of
some of the hardboiled criticism that I've read. Some of
those suggest subtopics for discussion, so I put together
questions on some of them. None of the questions require a
reading of the reviewed book. This whole question-type format
strikes me as kind of sophmoric and pretty much below the
level of rara-avis, but I did it anyway.
Although I was initially concerned that the second category,
a discussion of the literary theory, was too generic and
artsy for rara-avis, I have been proven wrong several times
here recently. What does it take to make a text literature?
What is the purpose of literature? What should literary
criticism concern itself with? All of these questions
concerning literary theory have popped up in the last couple
months and several people expressed interest and voiced their
opinion. One of the subjects that constantly comes up in
criticism is the various tools and techniques that a writer
uses to do the deed, things like sense of place, objective
realism, time-shifting, weather, ambiguity, motifs,
technology, and symbolism. I've put together several
questions concerning these writers' tools. The same goes for
various recurrent themes in hardboiled and noir, such as
alienation, vigilantism, violence, and ordeal.
Tomorrow I'll post a review of one of my favorite hardboiled
criticism books, Tough Guy Writers of the Thirties, editted
by Madden and published in 1968.
miker
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