I think Miker put it succinctly when he said:
"noir is just a type of story and hardboiled is a type of
character--and they are found everywhere"
Yes, and we could stop reaching backward beyond 1920 or so,
but it is interesting to bring up writers like Dostoyevsky
and Kafka--and even Shakespeare.
Isn't there a social element to our search as well? Isn't
what we call noir about the lower strata of society, the one
we used to call lower-middle class?
(Interesting that our politicians has broken the class
struture to poor, middle-class, and rich, putting about 80%
of us in the middle group no matter what our income.)
Of course Chandler reached into the upper classes and
Hollywood did the same with a few noir films.
I still go back to "Screwed" and "tough," as the least common
denominators of each type of story, but I like Miker's
breakdown of hardboiled characters and noir stories.
Jack Bludis
===== http://JackBludis.com Now:
"The Big Switch," and "The Deal Killer" Coming in June:
"Shadow of the Dahlia"
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