I am preparing to lead a discussion of this novel. It will be
very popular with the reading group. It is graphically
written, a good combination of 2 popular genres, and a good
recreation of late-1950s New York. But when I compare it to
treatments of evil and its effects on the human psyche, I
cannot rate it as highly as Cain's _Double Indemnity_,
Greene's _Brighton Rock_, Willeford's _Burnt Orange Heresy_,
or films like _Chinatown_ (from which Hjortsberg may well
have borrowed for the incest, devil, and final shock of
recognition themes). My problem is
*SPOILER* that Harry Angel is not aware of what he has done
in his former "incarnation" as Johnny Favorite, and that he
has done nothing in the course of the novel which indicates
his own moral degeneratrion. Maybe I'm wrong, b/c he is
cynical, may have pushed Dr Fowler to kill himself, and does
dispatch Ethan Krusmark (perhaps in self-defence). I guess
Hjortsberg is not describing Harry's self-destructive moral
degeneration by his own choice. Taht's the problem, Harry is
given the ultimate penalty b/c of a fate beyond his control.
Does this count as noir?
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