While the term "noir" usually connotes a kind of dark crime
story. It can even be narrowly defined as a story within
which the protagonist loses. At the end not even a spark of
light is emitted. However, I believe the term is useful to
designate a dark view of the world wherein while humans may
strive to overcome evil they invariably lose. Hemingway
shares that mood.
For example from "Clean Well-Lighted":
"It was nothing that he knew too well. It was all a nothing
and a man was nothing too. It was only that and light was all
it needed and a certain cleanliness and order. Some lived in
it and never felt it but he knew it all was nada y pues nada
y nada y pues nada."
Or:
"There was much game hanging outside the shops, and the snow
powdered in the fur of the foxes and the wind blew their
tails. The deer hung stiff and heavy and empty, and small
birds blew in the wind and the wind turned their feathers. It
was a cold fall and the wind came down from the
mountains."
And:
"It was snow they tramped along in until they died that
winter."
Now, for me, that's noir writing.
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