Picking up Mario's statement that noir tends to be more
pessimistic, and
relating it, through Cawelti (fr. Adventure, Mystery,
Romance) to literary
naturalism. You're right that naturalism doesn't have to be
pessimistic or
fatalistic; it can detail a very bleak picture that moves one
to seek a
remedy, as in The Jungle. So I'm relating the hope for
remedy, small
though it may be, to the hard-boiled PI or the "fixer" with a
code--the
best we can hope for, and good enough. Sometimes enduring is
enough.
[What's the interior monologue from Farewell, My Lovely when
Marlowe is
coming out of the drug sleep, before he lays out the guy with
the bed
spring? Something about how much he's taken, and what he
needs to do.]
Would I defend to the last breath these speculations? Naw.
But I would
argue that tracing roots can help one make distinctions, can
highlight
certain features.
What about the "Chump Test" (7/27)--you rare birds like that
one?
Bill Hagen
<billha@ionet.net>
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