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Re: RARA-AVIS: Working towards a definition of sorts 

Film noir is a term that was coined by the french after WWII, when
many of the films of the 30s & 40s made their way to Europe.  It's
use in literature is arbitrary, because it refers to film.  Therefore,
what is noir in film can retroactively be applied to literature, if
the film is true to a literary source.  Noir has to do with the dark
lighting/look of the films, which help convey the desparate mood of
the characters, their trapped existence.  Noir is cinematic in its
root & unless a book keeps refering to darkly lit scenes <G> it 
refers only to mood.

I always think of hardboiled characters of being in control of their
destiny, even if they choose to crash and burn.  Many noir characters
in film choose to end their trap with death (as when Mitchum drives
off a cliff in OUT OF THE PAST), but it's not a very good strategy
for a serial character.

There's a wonderful new book (1996) FILM NOIR READER, which has many
informative essays on noir.  Edited by Alain Silver and James Ursini,
there are excerpts on the web (sorry I don't have the URL...I liked
them so much I bought the book!)  But if you search FILM NOIR you'll
find them.  Published by Limelight Editions.

Hope this helps in some small way

Virginia

On 26 Jan 1997 RKING@VUNET.VINU.EDU wrote:

> Jim and others: Concerning your comment about noir not yet existing as
> a literary term when POSTMAN was published, can you or anyone tell us
> when the term noir was first applied to literature? Who did it and can
> you give the cite? Not that I'm doubting you, I've just mulled this over
> from time to time and would like to read about it.
> Thank,
> 
> Richard King
> rking@vunet.vinu.edu
> 
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