[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: Re : RARA-AVIS: Noir/Hardboiled 

LoLehmann@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Michael wrote :
> 
> >>we tried to define terms like hardboiled and noir simply by pinpointing
> > >to their original use, and left their current meaning out of the picture.
> 
> > This seems inaccurate. All anyone has been doing is speculating about
> > meanings of terminology, not to try to come to a single consensus which we
> > would all then have to adhere to, but to explore our own various
> > understandings of what "hard-boiled" and "noir" mean.  If you or anyone
> > else wants to talk about "current meaning," 90's crime fiction, whatever,
> > that would be Great.  I am still very unclear as to what your criticisms
> > of the ongoing discussion are. Is it necessary to criticize others' modes
> > of inquiry in order to steer the conversation in a new direction? Michael
> 
> Hey, I'm not criticizing your methods ! :) Check my message, I said : 'we',
> including myself among the speculators. I merely tried to bounce off
> Etienne's long post, to open new areas of investigation.
> 
> That said, I think that maybe, just maybe, we've done enough 'speculating
> about meanings of terminology'. We came to the conclusion that 'hardboiled'
> refers more to the style of writing, and 'noir' to the contents of the story
> (to make a long story short). And the last few posts didn't advance the
> discussion much.
> 
> I'm not specially interested in "current meanings", but an historic
> perspective on the evolution of the genre seems likely to shed some new
> lights on our understanding of the terms used here. For instance, Etienne's
> statement that the last 30 years' westerns were hardboiled fiction too...
> 
> Comments, anyone ?
> 
> Laurent
> -
> # RARA-AVIS:  To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis"
> # to majordomo@icomm.ca

Right On! Laurent is dead, (excuse the unintentional pun), right -- 
"hardboiled" is the style and "noir" is the content.  That is the 
symbiosis toward which I have been scrabbling in the dark.  This is a 
true insight, and I, for one, am indebted.  I can now look at the corpus 
of "hardboiled" and "noir" texts, both literary and cinematic, 
historical and contemporary, in a new light.  It may, ultmately, prove to 
be only a false dawn, but, oh, how brightly doth it shine!
David Skene-Melvin
ann.melvin@sympatico.ca
-
# RARA-AVIS:  To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis"
# to majordomo@icomm.ca
References:

[Archives] | [RARA-AVIS]