I love the Springsteen reference, Brian. I always thought Nebraska had similar overtones.
For those who missed Otto's original piece, here's a link to it, with a note Otto sent around today concerning its popularity on Twitter:
This is a Q&A I did with Library Journal which, I am told by the HMH publicist, has been the hottest thing on Twitter that didn't involve Paris Hilton or the N.Y. Jets. While I have doubts that people who think tweeting is a delightful way to spend time actually read books, I suppose it can't hurt. If you are uninterested in noir fiction and/or me, simply delete. Yours, Otto
David Corbett
www.davircorbett.com
--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Brian Thornton <bthorntonwriter@...> wrote:
>
> Eric-
>
> I liken reading good noir fiction to listening to both sides of Bruce
> Springsteen's classic DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN. Even thought you start
> out hopeful ("Badlands" on side 1 and "The Promised Land" on side 2), in the
> end, you know that Life/Fate/God/Buddha/The Universe is going to intervene,
> grind these folks down, and leave them with stark, Jungian moments of
> clarity (as crystalized in the gorgeous, forlorn "Racing in the Streets" and
> "Darkness on the Edge of Town," the songs that end each side respectively).
>
> Or, if you prefer, pick the blues tune of your choice. Someone somewhere
> put it more artfully than I ever could: it's music that makes you "feel so
> good about feelin' so bad."
>
> When it's done well, that's what keeps me reading noir fiction.
>
> Brian
>
> On Thu, Sep 16, 2010 at 2:18 AM, Eric Chambers <nqexile@...> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > RJR says:
> >
> > > If the key to Noir is that the "protag" comes to a tragic
> >
> > > end, where's the suspense? Doesn't there have to be a ghost
> >
> > > of a chance that he might prevail? <
> >
> > This has got me thinking.
> > The joy of reading Noir is in the writer's storytelling.
> > You should never be able to see exactly what's coming, even though you know
> > what kind of ending there will inevitably be.
> > Sort of like a chess game or the sweet pain of watching your football team
> > play their heart out and still lose. The character and the situation have to
> > be belivable. The central character in Noir isn't an out and out villian
> > like Hannibal Lector, otherwise the reader is not going to care.
> > It's a little like watching a collision between two cars. It's that thing
> > about your mind going
> > into slow motion while you are watching.
> >
> > I'm probably not making much sense.
> >
> > Eric
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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