Kerry,
Re your comment below:
"I've been reading stories lately that are set among African
refugees. Not sure that it applies to what I've read but it
set me wondering about dark and sinister and even
non-transcendent stories set in locals without benefit of the
rule of law. Without the formality of a law to break, without
the technicality of a crime, could such stories be considered
noir?"
"Crime," in the sense of crime fiction, has never hinged, of
necessity, on the breaking of a formal statute, per se, but
on audience perceptions of what a crime is.
Hence, a story about the investigation of a murder in a
hypothetical country in which murder is not illegal would
still be a crime story.
For that matter, a book built around an act that IS
technically a legal violation might NOT be a crime novel, if
the act doesn't fit into audience perceptions of what
constitute a crime.
For example, few would categorize Herman Wouk's great WW2
military novel, THE CAINE MUTINY, as a crime story,
notwithstanding its well-remembered courtroom sequence near
the end.
The reason? Because the "crime" in question doesn't fit the
definition of crime in the average reader's perception.
Defying one's boss mght get you fired in the civilian world,
but it won't get you put on trial for your life.
On the other hand, a novel about the investigation of a
murder onboard a naval vessel (or, as in Clancy's THE HUNT
FOR RED OCTOBER, about the identification of a KGB mole on a
naval vessel) WOULD be regarded as a crime novel, not because
murder or espionage violate the Uniform Code of Military
Justice (though they do), but because the average reader
regards murder and/or espionage as the stuff of crime
novels.
And if it can be a crime novel, it can, given the right
treatment, be a hard-boiled or noir crime novel.
JIM DOHERTY
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