"True, we're usually talking what is called "black" humour
here, fittingly enough. (How about a debate defining black
humour?)"
Richard Pryor?
Although that's a joke, much of his humor is based on
laughing at life's absurdities, as is much of the humor in
noir. We all seem to agree that Willeford was funny -- what
was that great quote of his about the comedy in the darkness
of life? But, personally, I find humor all over noir. Irony
seems to be a defining characteristic of modern noir (and
didn't you once make that claim, Mario, in asserting
Willeford was the first true writer of modern noir? Are we,
perhaps, not defining humor in the same way?). Serpert's Tail
and Do Not Press seem to specialize in it.
I laugh out loud all the time while reading Ken Bruen, Joe
Lansdale, Jason Starr and, most recently, Charlie WiIliams's
Deadfolk. Sometimes I'm laughing with the characters, as they
joke instead of whistling past their graves; other times I
laugh at the characters. For instance, Royston Blake, Head
Doorman of Hoppers, as he constantly reminds us, has a
hilariously inflated view of himself in Deadfolk. It's hard
not to laugh at the increasing disconnect between it and how
he is really handling his life.
Mark
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 22 Oct 2004 EDT