RARA-AVIS: Re: Suggestions for monthly topics requested

From: JIM DOHERTY ( jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com)
Date: 09 Oct 2007


Miker,

Re your questions below:

1. Does the hardboiled fiction genre have some common meaning/message? If yes, what is it?

No.

2. Does the noir fiction genre have some common meaning/message? If yes, what is it?

No.

3. What pre-Hammett/ Daly literature led up to the hardboiled genre?

Westerns and mysteries.

4. Do you identify the beginning of the noir fiction genre with a particular novel or story? If yes, what and why?

Either "Death Sits in the Dentist's Chair" by Cornell Woolrich because it's the first crime story by Cornell Woolrich, or THIS MAN IS DANGEROUS by Peter Cheyney, because it was the first book published under the Serie Noire logo.

5. Do you identify the beginning of the hardboiled fiction genre with a particular novel or story? If yes, what and why?

"Three-Gun Terry" by Carroll John Daly because it's the first hard-boiled PI story.

6. What themes do you often find in the hardboiled genre? Does the commonality suggest some special significance? If yes, what?

Toughness and a colloquial mode of expression. Yes. That toughness and a colloquial mode of expression are what define the hard-boiled style.

7. What themes do you often find in noir fiction? Does the commonality suggest some special significance? If yes, what?

A dark and sinister atmosphere. Yes. That a dark and sinister atmosphere is what defines noir in crime fiction.

8. If you don't think Michael Connelly is writing the best damned hardboiled today, how long of a pry bar would it take to get your head out of your ass?

I'M writing the best damed hard-boiled today. I just can' get a publisher to agree.

And now that I've given the definitive answers to all your questions, there's no need to devote an entire month to them.

JIM DOHERTY

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