Haven't quite read all of Goodis's novels. Still got one to
go (and I've no good reason for avoiding it).
I take your point about THE BIG HEAT. Retrospectively, it
probably isn't noir, but as you're reading the book you're
immersed in a corrupt and brutal world where the protagonist
loses his wife to a car bomb and goes rogue because he can't
get justice any other way. In the moment, it feels like
noir.
Al
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Robison
To:
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 7:16 PM
Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Types of noir (was Re:
Pop. 1280)
Allan Guthrie wrote:
I'd suggest that many of David Goodis's
protagonists
are victims of circumstance.
How about the protagonist of THE ROAD? I didn't
spot
the part where he transgresses, but he steals
to
survive so I suppose it depends whose morals
we're
talking about.
Several Woolrich protagonists are
non-transgressing
victims.
I'd also suggest that in McGivern's THE BIG HEAT,
the
protagonist is doomed the moment his car explodes
(ie
before he commits any act of
transgression).
***************
I think you've read every Goodis novel, so you've
got
the advantage on me there. I've read Shoot the
Piano
Player and Cassidy's Girl. I'd agree that
neither
protagonists are doomed by moral transgression.
In
Shoot the Piano Player, he's pretty much rolling
in
self-pity and self-hate. Although this might
be
reprehensible, it's probably not immoral. Cassidy
is
doomed by two horrendous accidents, both of which
he
is only marginally accountable for. He is also
doomed
by his obsession with Mildred which is not
immoral
either. Cassidy is drunken and weak-willed, but
his
doom stems from reasons beyond his control.
As far as Woolrich, I've only read I Married a
Dead
Man, and in this one the girl lies about her
identity
after a train wreck in order to assume the
comfortable
and well-off life of someone else. Definitely
a
naughty and transgressive girl.
The Road? No transgression there, either. The
father
is just in a bad situation. This book is
not
deterministic, either. And the father's doom is
his
illness. And although he dies at the end, he
has
succeeded. His son seems to have been passed
into
safe hands.
I'm hesitant to say that the protagonist in The
Big
Heat is doomed. He loses his wife in the
explosion
but there is a hell of a payback and in the end
both
he and his son are intact. There is one very
critical
moment in The Big Heat where he is tempted to
step way
over the line. He doesn't. I'm OK with you
calling
The Big Heat noir. I know the movie is, but the
truth
is that the plot is a tough guy avenging a wrong
and
coming out triumphant at the end. Personally,
I'd
rather not call it noir.
Good examples of noir protagonists swimming in
the
abyss without moral accountability, Al! I have
other
things I'd like to mention about the above, but
if the
wife gets home and the electric can opener is
not
mounted under the cabinet... well, we would
definitely
be talking noir then.
miker
__________________________________________________________
Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel
answers from someone who knows. Yahoo! Answers - Check it
out.
http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545469
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 01 Aug 2007 EDT