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RARA-AVIS: Working towards a definition of sorts
Anny wrote:
>So, this leaves me with this thought: Hardboiled is the place where Noir and
>Mystery overlap.
>
>What do the rest of you think?
I think it's a futile exercise trying to separate the subgenres of
"hardboiled" and "noir" from each other. To begin with, "Postman" was
published in 1934, and is contemporary with Hammett, Bellem, Whitfield,
Burnett, and any other pioneer "hardboiled" author you can name. Further, if
memory serves, and dust-jacket copy on "Postman" calls it a "hardboiled"
story--using that word as a selling point. "Noir" is a term co-opted for
literature from French film critics who found it a convenient label for
certain American crime films of the late 40's-early 50's which exhibited
elements of claustrophobia, alienation, violence and sexual obsession; we
can easily see those same elements in "Postman," so it's natural to point to
that novel as a watershed "noir" novel--although that distinction did not
exist fifty or sixty years ago, when it was published.
It's my opinion that "hardboiled" (that is, fiction dealing with sex,
violence, crime, betrayal and the "lower orders," written in a plain style)
and "noir" (ditto, with psychological overtones) are more often than not
running in tandem rather than divergently, and neither shares anything but a
passing superficial resemblence to conventional "mystery" literature.
Jim Stephenson
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