> They may be great fun but they're not exactly noir.
And my
> definition of noir is pretty open.
>
My definition is pretty narrow. If there's no downward spiral
too hell, if there's no psychic damage and sense of doom,
it's not noir. Quoting Eddie Muller's definition of noir (as
taken from Ken Bruen's foreward for a new edition of Miami
Purity), "starts bad and gets worse." That's noir. At least
that's my narrow definiton. And very little of what's called
noir today has a resemblance to noir (at least to me).
Russell Hill's "Robbie's Wife" is noir, Seymour Shubin's
"Anyone's My Name" is noir (yeah, okay, it was written 50
years ago, but we've been discussing it recently), Vicki
Hendrick's "Miami Purity" is noir. Jason Starr's "Hard
Feelings" and "Twisted City". Damn if I can think of too many
other recent books.
--Dave Z.
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