Totally with you on the Hardy/noir thing. Take away certain moral
stances from Hardy and add a couple of stylistic touches and you have
noir as we know it. TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES is another huge proto-
noir, if you will. Massive hopes and expectations, doomed from the
outset.
Charlie.
-------------------
charliewilliams.net
--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Mark D. Nevins"
<nevins_mark@...> wrote:
>
> Jeff, thanks very much for the thoughtful post on Goodis.
>
> I am a "newbie" still to the RARA-AVIS canon, and have not yet
started on Goodis. I plan to do so soon.
>
> Nevertheless, re: the following:
> "All of the Goodis hallmarks are there. The bitch/evil woman/women
vs. the
> angel in need of saving, the suicidal thoughts, the unbelievable
> coincidences and the backdrop of Philadelphia. Although, in this,
his last
> novel he seems to address the issue of implausible coincidences, by
delving
> into the Freudian belief that there are no real coincidences. The
> machinations of our subconscious lead us to a point that only to
our
> conscious mind seem coincidental. Mind you, I'm not saying he does
this
> convincingly, but at least well enough to hold your interest and
momentarily
> believe the implausible."
>
> Not yet having read any Goodis, the description above reminds me of
no writer so much as Thomas Hardy, with JUDE THE OBSCURE being
perhaps the best example: ultimately tragic wavering between
the "dark woman" and the "light woman"; crushing coincidences and the
cruelty of fate; an incredible sense of the history of place and its
destiny (nobody is better than Hardy in this area); suicidal
thoughts; and even some of the ambivalences created in the reader
that you describe.
>
> Having re-read the masterful THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE this summer,
it occurs to me that if we're tracing the literary origins of "noir"
(as I have seen it defined here) we absolutely cannot forget about
Hardy (to the point where, reading Jeff's comments above, I wonder if
Goodis was directly influenced by Hardy). Many "noir" themes appear
earlier in literature (e.g., Shakespearean and Classical Greek
tragedy), but Hardy seems to be the one who truly transports them to
the modern world and the novel.
>
> OK, so, back on topic: If I'm going to start reading Goodis, is
there any advised reading order and/or a good book to begin with?
>
> Best,
> Mark Nevins
>
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