I have been lurking during this discussion of transcendence,
and I kept wanting to bring up religion. I don't know how you
can mumble about Western Civ and any element of it without
bringing up religion's 3000-year overwhelming
stranglehold.
So, methinks, a noir protagonist thinks with his willie, and
that dooms him. Noir is about morality. The inevitability is,
well, judgment day. I look at noir writers and I see religion
oozing from them like January maple syrup. Hammett was a
former Catholic, Cain was a gloating Catholic, Spillane
created the Hammer of God, and so forth.
Hammett created Spade, a blonde devil. Spade is also Sisyphus
before Camus tinkered with the myth. The Falcon begins with
Spade in his office and ends with Spade in his office.
Spade's only moment of freedom is sending Brigit over. Archer
was doomed; he thought with his willie. Spade can transcend
his willie. Brigit counted upon Spade being just another guy
thinking with his willie.
Hammett, a fallen-away Catholic, dead-stops the Falcon so
that Spade tells the story of Flitcraft. Flitcraft is a human
who encounters Random Chance in a universe he thought was
orderly. (That's what Hammett's daughter says about Flitcraft
in her biography of her dad, by the way.) There is no
Intelligent Design. There is no Prime Mover. The Universe is
Random Chance. Spade, the gambler, casting his lot with the
drop of the cards. (Einstein said God doesn't play dice with
the universe; Spade says, yeah, it's the fall of the dice.)
Spade could be telling Brigit HE is her Falling Beams, or he
could be telling her SHE is his Falling Beams. Works both
ways, eh?
Imagine Sisyphus with a gun.
Could there be a Hindu noir novel? A Buddhist noir novel? Or
only from the Son of Abraham? What is the impact of religion?
As for the politics, oh, I think the role of politics in noir
is a red-herring.
God, I'm glad I got all this out of me.
Fred Zackel author of Cocaine & Blue Eyes c/o Point Blank
Press
"They are too fast, too quick, they rip our flesh off, rip
our arms off. Sometimes it starts with just one. Sometimes
they come in a pack. They smell blood and meat, and they rush
in and join in. There are so many of them everywhere,
patroling, cruising, taking, killing." ~ Voltaire
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 06 Dec 2006 EST