TL said:
>I think there is a black humor element involved in
the best of noir that makes it truly human.
I definitely agree. I love both noir/hardboiled (not touching
THAT discussion) and humour - so when I can get both in the
same book then I'm well chuffed. For me the combination of
dark and funny, when done well, makes the dark bits darker
and the funny bits funnier. Sometimes, there are things which
are ONLY funny because they happen in such bleak
circumstances.
I agree on all the names mentioned here - Ken Bruen
(who can make me cry, gasp and laugh on the same page - which
is really embarrassing if you're sitting on the bus at the
time - no-one wants to sit next to the crazy lady), Charles
Willeford, Jim Thompson, Al Guthrie, Scott Philips
(The Ice Harvest and Cottonwood.). Also Victor Gischler's GUN
MONKEYS, Declan Burke's EIGHT BALL BOOGIE, Sean Doolittle,
Charlie Stella, James McKimmey's SQUEEZE PLAY, Robert
Ferrigno, Mark Haskell-Smith's MOIST, Chris Niles' HELL'S
KITCHEN. And, like Bill, I also laughed when reading Jason's
TWISTED CITY, and most of his other books (admittedly, it was
nervous laughter, and it probably makes me really warped
:o)).... I could go on, but I'll stop there.
All the dark and humourous books I like have different levels
of darkness, and different types of humour, but I like the
combination of sheer misery and black humour. Some might just
have one or two throwaway lines, some might have laughs on
every page.
We all laugh at the crap things that happen to us. OK, it
might not be AS they're happening, but I'd like to think that
on my descent into hell I'd find something to laugh about
later.
People who can laugh at themselves, and the situations they
find themselves in are always people I like, and that goes
for characters in books too.
I'll be watching with interest for other suggestions.
Donna
-- http://freespace.virgin.net/donna.moore
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 23 Oct 2004 EDT