Jim Beaver wrote: Not intending to crank up an argument, I'm
curious, Jim. I recently reread an old short story by Manly
Wade Wellman set in the 1800s. A sea captain of a slave ship,
in order to avoid being caught with contraband slaves on
board by a British man-of-war, orders the slaves shacked to
the anchor chain. He drops anchor and the slaves go overboard
with it. No more evidence. Years later, back in the Carolinas
in his home, he is visited by the monstrous fish-eaten
ghostly carcasses of the slaves he sent overboard, who
surround his home and drive him mad.
It's possibly the darkest, most sinister atmosphere of
anything I've ever read.
***************** Great story, Jim. And don't feel bad about
bringing up the ole noir definition, either. That's what
we're here for. (I changed the subject line so those who are
tired of it can pass it by.)
Dark and sinister isn't enough. I believe we (Genius Jim
included) established that at an earlier date. There is a
sneaky, hidden assumption that we are also referring to
post-1920 crime literature. Because of the context of
rara-avis, the assumption is easier to make. But to be
thorough, it's best to define noir as dark, sinister,
post-1923 crime fiction.
The bottom line is that "dark and sinister" has been a
popular atmosphere in literature for a long time. We could
say that noir is just a continuation of the Gothic tradition,
but dark and sinister stretches back before Gothic all the
way to the oldest stories in the world.
All of Shakespeare's tragedies have a dark and sinister
atmosphere. I've just about finished KING LEAR, and jeez,
that's some wicked stuff! Poking poor old Gloucester's eyes
out and wicked femme fatales running people through with
swords. How dark and sinister can you get?
It has been my contention for a while that without the
somewhat contrived stipulation of a date requirement, noir
contains, neither part nor sum, anything that distinguishes
it from any of the other dark, sinister crime literature that
runs back a few thousand years. This actually backs up Jim's
idea that noir represents a style rather than a genre, but it
runs aground when you tack a time stamp on it.
miker
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