--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Allan Guthrie" <allan@...> wrote:
>
> That sounds highly likely to me but I'd love to see some hard evidence. It'd
> be great to pin down the very early instances of the label as applied to
> crime fiction (outside of La Serie Noire).
>
It was in use in the eighties. I don't recall seeing in in the seventies. Blurbs and reviews are a good guide for that. If somebody wants to do a search, there is a great tool: go to Google Books and search magazines. The number of magazine collections available is astounding. If you look for "noir novel" or "noir literature", you may get a good idea of the decade it was introduced (at least).
Best,
mrt
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