Jim wrote:
""Noir" dates from roughly the mid- 20th Century for the
simple reason that the term was coined, by Gallimard's
mystery editor, Marcel Duhamel, to describe a type of crime
fiction that was conceived, gestated, and was born during
that time. . . . In other words, when the word was coined to
describe a particular kind of crime fiction, . . ."
Ah, the creationist version of words. They come into being
and forever remain the same.
Personally, I believe in evolution, where genres can change,
even mutate, and their labels can find room for the
offspring. And wait a minute, if we are stuck with Duhamel's
definition -- you point out it was just a pun employed as a
broad marketing term, covering his mystery line, not all
"dark and sinister" -- doesn't that render your definition as
much a later reinterpretation as that of those who find
a
"deep, existential meaning" at the core of the
literature?
Mark
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