Interesting exchange on political comments in noir
novels.
One thing to notice about the titles mentioned (by
Anderson,Gresham,Cain)is that they all--to my memory--date
from or are set in the Thirties, or shortly thereafter. The
noir "vision" (yeah,a contradiction in terms) was surely
stimulated by the apparent failure of capitalism and the
larger political system during that period. Disillusionment
is reflected in personal stories, and sometimes in social
commentary.
I too wouldn't defend polemic passages if they don't arise
from the reality and characters portrayed. But as in Grapes
of Wrath or other "mainstream" titles, anger or crime arises
in part from social conditions. If I remember rightly,
Anderson's title, Thieves Like Us, was playing off the sense
that poor folks who steal are subjected to a different
standard of enforcement and justice than the rich
respectables. [Isn't there a scene with a lawyer that
"argues" this?]
Guess my thesis is that the Depression widened the appeal of
crime/noir fiction, so it seems natural that the social and
political solutions of that era should thread their way in
the fiction as well.
Bill Hagen
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