Conference on Noir Aesthetics, University of Edinburgh, June 15, 2018: Call For Papers

From the mailbox:

Noir Aesthetics in World Literatures
 Organised by the Language and Violence Research Strand and the Department of European Languages and Cultures (DELC) of the University of Edinburgh, this one-day symposium will focus on the evolution of narrative techniques towards noir aesthetics in world literatures.
 Featuring papers by selected researchers, and a conversation with invited author, Christopher Brookmyre, it will look at texts which favour the adoption of a new consciousness towards cultural politics, as they reinforce the connection between literature and public affairs.
 For more information:
https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/delc/events/noir-aesthetics-in-world-literatures We invite all those who wish to participate in the ‘Noir Aesthetics in World Literatures’ symposium to send their proposals for twenty-minute papers, exploring the questions presented above, with an abstract of no more than 300 words to v1malons@ed.ac.uk by 28th February 2018.
 

The Comfort of Noir @ElectricLit @nicholas_seeley

Nicholas Seeley muses on the question, "Why is noir having a renaissance?"  His answer: "Noir was powerful because it was a tiny bit true."

He goes on:

But then, it faded. Perhaps, in part, it was the cultural revolution of the 1960s and ’70s, when, for a moment, it seemed that victory over the forces of Old and Evil was possible. (I believe there were other reasons as well, which I’ll get to in a moment.) But today, noir has returned with a vengeance, and it’s easy to see why. Even as social and political revolutions have failed, the media revolution has succeeded. In an expanded world of internet and mobile technology, we are more aware than ever of the webs of power, money and influence that ensnare us, their global tendrils connecting us to people all over the planet. Yet more than ever we are powerless to influence the powers-that-be, change the system, or hold the corrupt to account. Add to that the nostalgia inspired by rapid change, and the proliferation of media and markets, and it seems clear why we look back to noir heroes and antiheroes: doomed losers, perhaps, but ones who could look the corruption in the face without flinching. There is, for me, no clearer marker of the noir moment in our popular culture than the UK TV series Sherlock, which tries (with very uneven success) to re-imagine Sherlock Holmes, the elite icon of the whodunit, the Superman of detectives, as a noir figure.

Ultimately, though, I think such literature comforts us. It tells us we are right in our evaluation of the world and its evils, and that most of us are powerless to stand up against the powerful and the corrupt. And yet--there are still heroes among us. There are still those who will go down fighting. There are still those who see some light at the end, and will tell the stories. We will survive. It's not all noir, after all.

Read the entire essay, Noir is Protest Literature: That's Why It's Having a Renaissance, here. 

The Quick Death of a Popular Crime Show Genre

Mark Lawson discusses the "death" of Scandinavian tv noir, tracing it to too many cross-border productions, oversaturation of the market, and (maybe) overfamiliarity with the product and a corresponding lack of ongoing creativity. Here, from the Guardian.

NPR's Three Books: Suggestions For Good Reading Help Clarify Connections Between Law and Society

NPR has started a new series, Three Books, in which commentators share a personal story or discuss an issue of interest to them and then recommend three books that carry on the theme. In his essay, NPR's Tony D'Souza reflects on the divergent career paths he and a childhood acquaintance have taken and suggests examining these crime novels for a more nuanced understanding of the interaction of crime and society. More from the NPR series Three Books here, from Bruce Machart, who discusses a friend's encounter with the legal system after a family tragedy, and asks why we gobble up novels about murder, and here, from Lisa Tucker, who talks about Hallowe'en and fall.

Even more Three Books selections here.

Come and Be Kilt

Phil Rickman, of the BBC Blog WalesArts, examines the genre affectionately known as "Tartan Noir."  Says Mr. Rickman in part,

This is the term invented for dark Scottish crime novels about doomed hardmen with noses broken by Glasgow kisses and arteries clogged by fried Mars bars. The street-level, socially-aware antidote to traditional upper class English crime by Agatha Christie and co.

It's all a marketing scam, of course, promoted by people who conveniently forget that, as well as breeding Ian Rankin, Chris Brookmyre and Stuart MacBride, Scotland is also the home of the awfully genteel, endearingly inoffensive Alexander McCall Smith whose characters make Miss Marple look hard-boiled.

But Tartan Noir really works. It's a killer brand that's sold millions of books in places a long way south of Scotland.

It seems to have begun back in the 1970s when William McInvanney, an established literary novelist, turned out a couple of intelligent thrillers featuring a Glasgow cop called Laidlaw. It never became much of a series, but it did inspire the young Ian Rankin to create a similar cop operating in Edinburgh - John Rebus.

Mr. Rickman notes that a few mystery novelists sets their works in Wales, and wants to know if the Welsh are ready for their own genre. (But what would it be called?) Read on here, MacDuffs!

NPR's Crime In the City Series

More from NPR's Crime In the City series here. Today's featured author: George Pelecanos (Washington, DC). Authors discussed on prior shows: Archer Mayor (Brattleboro, Vermont); Marcia Muller (San Francisco); Naomi Hirahara (Los Angeles); Ridley Pearson (Sun Valley, Idaho); Janet Evanovich (Trenton, New Jersey); Diane Wei Liang (Beijing, China); Philip Kerr (Berlin, Germany); Cara Black (Paris, France); and Mark Billingham (London, England). More authors and cities here.

Scandinavian Crime

Scandinavian crime fiction is suddenly in vogue--not just novels by Stieg Larsson (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and Peter Høeg (Smilla's Sense of Snow)--but many more authors. Here's a roundup of articles discussing mystery writers from the area.

The BBC On Scandinavian Crime Fiction: Nordic Noir (video not available in US)

John Crace, Move Over, Inspector Rankin, The Guardian, January 23, 2009

Inspector Norse, The Economist, March 11, 2010

Boris Kachka, Number 1 With an Umlaut New York Magazine, 5/8/2011

Nathaniel Rich, Scandianavian Crime Wave, Slate (July 8, 2009)

In addition, check out the blog Euro Crime, devoted to British and continental European crime fiction, film and tv.

Why Films About the Wrong Side of the Law Are So Appealing

From the New York Times, an article on the history and evolution of the crime film.

A Blog On Crime Fiction and Writing

If you like, or are interested in trying to write crime fiction, check out the blog Hey There's a Dead Guy in the Living Room, written by a writer, a publisher, an agent, a book reviewer, a bookshop owner, an editor, and a p.r. person. They're all alive, and in your (virtual) living room, and in your conservatory, and in your library....

Crime Noir From a French Scientist

Fred Vargas (Frédérique Audouin-Rouzeau) writes what the French call romans policiers. It started as a hobby, but her hobby has turned into best sellers. Her sleuth Chief Inspector Adamsberg features in two paperbacks currently available in translation in the U.S.: Seeking Whom He May Devour and Have Mercy On Us All. Read more here in a Globe and Mail article.

The Pleasures of Crime Noir

Barry Hannah, a professor at the University of Mississippi, writes about the pleasures, and the importance, of crime noir, in the Oxford American. Read his essay online.