--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, William Ahearn
<williamahearn@...> wrote:
>
>
> --- DJ-Anonyme@... wrote:
>
> > While that may answer what a hero is no more,
what
> > is one in your
> > estimation?
> >
> Here is the gist of it. It comes down to
Jack's
> definition of screwed and whether Spade is screwed
or
> not and not some revision of a hero. In Cain
--
> Postman, Double Indemnity -- in Woolrich -- Waltz
Into
> Darkness, Manhattan Love Song -- you have
protagonists
> who end up screwed.
What do you mean by "screwed"? That there is something wrong
in the head with the character or that he ends up screwed? If
it's the head thing, I can think of plenty of noir novels
where the character simply takes the wrong turn and is
trapped. Jason Starr's protagonist who always smells like
fish (I forget his name) is one of those. And Frank Kafka's
characters in The Castle and The Trial are perfectly ordinary
guys. The lawyer protagonist of _Body Heat_ is a not too
smart guy, but he is not screwed in the head. The protagonist
of _Out of the Past_, played so brilliantly by Mitchum, is
not screwed in the head, and so on.
So I have to register a protest against this minimalist
"screwed" definition of noir. It doesn't always fit.
Best,
mrt
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