Jack wrote:
"Does true noir have even a glimmer of hope? Isn't the
downward, inevitable slope of the poor slump of the protag,
or the fear that the bastard villain will succeed, the point
of noir?"
As I noted when I mentioned Anderson's review, I have
problems with his definition of noir, but not this part. I
don't necessarily think noir displays hope on the part of the
author or to the reader that the protagonist will be able to
stave off doom, but I do think we often see the protagonist
clinging to hope that the inevitable might be overcome. Why
else keep trying? And it is that undercutting of hope that
makes the screwing even worse.
Mark
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