--- Brian Thornton <
tieresias@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> Since you're new here, William, let me give you
some
> background in the interest of saving you some
time.
Actually, I was here before. But that's nitpicking.
>
> You won't get anything "unified" on Rara
Avis
> (except perhaps a "unified" acknoledgement of
Rara
> Avis' inherent lack of the afforementioned
unity).
> The folks who linger around this coffee clatch are
a
> disparate and independent-minded lot.
I don't really expect an answer in the conventional sense.
Recently I did a lot of research into the origin of the term
"film noir" and came away pretty disgusted at how the
babblers of the "academic flapdoodle" that has been raging
for some 30 or so years never bothered to read the very
people they claim "coined" the term. It's clear that film
noir existed before the war and that definition -- however
thin -- is more valuable and consistent than the nonsense --
in my opinion -- that followed. So, in developing a grounded
theory based on the original French definition -- not Nino
Frank's off-hand reference to it -- is what I'm up to.
>
> So good luck with your quest. I can't wrap my
head
> around why anyone would want a "unified
field
> theory" on any literary concept.
I can't help but admit to some deviousness to suggesting that
there is a "unified field theory" to the "everything is noir"
school. I don't think there is one because I don't think
anyone put much real thought into it in the 1970s and beyond.
It's like saying "jazz" instead of "bebop" or "swing"
or
"Dixieland." At the moment, I'm limiting it to film because I
think -- I do not have a reference yet -- that the literary
material was given the name after the fact.
What you can't wrap your head around is that it's a lot of
fun.
William
Essays and Ramblings
<http://www.williamahearn.com>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 14 Sep 2007 EDT