RARA-AVIS: Science Fiction and Noir

From: Eric Chambers ( nqexile@yahoo.com.au)
Date: 12 Oct 2007


             --- In rara-avis-l@ yahoogroups. com, jacquesdebierue" jacquesdebierue@yahoo.com wrote: Also, the search for noir shouldn't limit itself to the mystery and
 crime pulps. For example, there were lots of noirish stories in the
 fantasy and weird tales pulps, with notable authors like Donald
 Wandrei, Theodore Sturgeon, Fritz Leiber, etc. Woolrich brings some of
 that to the crime and mystery story, but the stuff was in the air. I
 am sure the experts on western pulps can find noir examples in that
 genre as well.

Funny you should say that - I 've just reread Sturgeons 'More than Human' which started me thinking about possible connections between Science Fiction, Noir and Hardboiled.
'More than Human' is definitely hard-boiled, but Noir it is not, because it ends on a positive note. One set piece in the book es something to Dickens 'Great Expectations' which I believe is definitely noir. (The David Lean film definitely is).Sturgeons short story 'Bianca's hands' is in Cornell Woolrich territory. Are Lieber's 'Fafred and the Grey Mouser' tales Sword and Sorcery Noir? Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury and Robert Bloch also spring to mind. For a more contempory blend of SF and Noir, try Jonathan Lethem's "Gun with occasional music".

       
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