What is Noir Fiction?

So what is "noir" fiction? The French term means black or "of the night." The French initially called the gothic literature in the early nineteenth century "literature noire" or "roman noir." When the American tough guy, or "hard-boiled", mysteries were first published in France, there was no French term to describe the genre. It was then that the word "noir" was first applied to these stories. In 1946, the French film critic Nino Frank used the phrase "film noir" to describe the black and white movies which used dramatic lighting, gritty settings, and iconic visuals to tell gripping tales full of deceit, nihilism, paranoia, and crime. Film critics used the term extensively after that, but it was not until 1984 that the term was applied to mystery fiction. With these three slightly different definitions of "noir," it is hard to pin down an exact definition of noir fiction. Interestingly, noir fiction tends to stay in the mystery genre through the convention of a twist of fate which trips up their protagonists' plans and destroys them. Here are some of the authors and works that have really defined the genre over the years.

Dashiell Hammett used his own time working as a Pinkerton detective and serving during World War I to give detective fiction a style and voice and style. The Maltese Falcon and its main character Sam Spade really had an impact on the mystery and suspense genre, and have come to define noir in the minds of many. It is a highly complex tale of corruption, lies, deception, and obsession. These are the elements of noir used by writers that followed Hammett's example. Sam Spade is a manipulator of the action taking on the roles of detective, victim, and a morally ambiguous character who is deceived to and uncovering lies while falling for the wrong girl. Aware of being lied to and used Sam turns on the girl who has lied to him to save himself from murder charges by turning her in for murdering his partner. His previously devoted secretary is completely repulsed by his actions. All of the conventions found in the mystery genre come into play; however Hammett changed all the rules.

Sexual obsession and the femme fatale also become part of noir fiction in The Maltese Falcon. Brigid is an iconic femme fatale luring men to their death. However Cornell Woolrich and James Cain expand on this idea more fully in their works. Woolrich's first book, Manhattan Love Song, further developed the prototype of the alluring seductress with Bernice Pascel. She is a high-paid call girl for shady individuals. Wade becomes obsessed with her after seeing her. He begins to abuse his wife, steal money from his friends, and in the end brings about Bernice's death as well as his own destruction. James Cain uses the theme of sexual obsession perfectly in The Postman Always Rings Twice. The story is about drifter Frank Chambers being obsessed with Cora. She is a young wife, married to a Greek restaurant owner who is older than she. Killing the older man ties them together in some ways, but destroys their love and kills them in the end. He is amoral, and is brought to murder through obsessive love and/or greed.

In The Glass Key, Hammett further developed the other aspect of noir mysteries as we know them, the type of corruption that comes with gangsters and criminals. The Glass Key explores society's inclusion of crime, violence, and duplicity. This novel reveals the corruption in a town run by the gangster and political boss Paul Madvig. He and his cohorts view political office as an opportunity for pilfering and to hiding their numerous illegal activities. It is in this setting that Hammett explores friendship. He does this with Ned Beaumont, Paul's best friend and adviser, who destroys their friendship as well as the only home he's ever known. He does so in order to save Paul from a murder charge. Ned even leaves town with the woman that Paul loves. Hammett's criminals, Madvig and Beaumont, are mobsters with intelligence that know how to manipulate people.

William Lindsay Gresham's Nightmare Alley gives readers another aspect of the criminal world, the confidence man. However, Gresham's con man, Stan Carlisle, also happens to be a psychopath. Stan is a small time con artist in a carnival. He kills his boss's husband so he can take his place in the mind reading act. , Stan has absolutely no guilt as he moves up in the world through cheating people out of their savings and preying on their weaknesses. In the end, his own paranoia and greed that lead to his downfall. until he is only an alcoholic geek working a carnival side show. The criminal world portrayed is bleak and destructive.

Authors such as Horace McCoy, Kenneth Fearing, Charles Willeford, David Goodis, and Cornell Woolrich dealt with ordinary people down on their luck, rather than con men or criminals. Unfortunately for the characters, they would also be destroyed by some twist of fate. In Horace McCoy's They Shoot Horses, Don't They? readers see Gloria and Robert, a couple of unemployed Hollywood extras, enter a dance marathon. The extremely fast paced world of the marathon and its cruel use of people leave Gloria feeling hopeless and begging for Robert to kill her. When he gives in to her pleading, his response to police is that men and society in general, shoot horses when they are no longer needed.

In Cornell Woolrich's novel, I Married a Dead Man; readers get a story about mistaken identity. Helen, pregnant and poor, takes on the identity of a woman who was really killed in a train wreck. The resulting lives Helen and her child have are ultimately ruined when her old lover comes to town and blackmails her. When the lover is found murdered, Helen and her husband suspect each other of the murder, and that guilt kills their love and marriage.

In Kenneth Fearing's The Big Clock, George Stroud is an adulterous husband. He appears to have everything a man could want. However, his obsession with women, his boss's mistress in particular, gets him wrapped up in murder, since he was with her prior to her death. While his boss is the one who committed the murder, George is the suspect. While a twist of fate saves him, George learned nothing from the situation and is planning his next affair, so his marriage crumbles around him since he has physically survives but is morally bankrupt.

In the 1940s, noir novels began to explore a theme that had only been lightly touched upon in earlier works, the idea of a psychopathic killer. Brigid kills to get her own way in The Maltese Falcon, but Hammett does not delve into Brigid's behavior and her thought process beyond killing being the means to an end. In The Killer Inside Me it is Jim Thompson that explores the mindset of a deputy sheriff that seems friendly and normal but is a psychotic killer that kills anyone in his way. Lou Ford is the killer and the story shares his point of view with readers. Lou is aware of his murderous tendencies but still cannot control those impulses. Holding true with other noir protagonists, Lou ends up destroyed due to his own actions and lies. He faces his own death through bullets knowingly with the woman he tried to kill but still loved.

In A Kiss Before Dying, Ira Levin introduces readers to the ultimate noir psychopath with the character of Budd Corliss. He is a poor man that decides to marry a wealthy woman to get ahead in life. However, his rich girlfriend discovers she is pregnant so he kills her. Then he pursues other daughters from the same family. The second daughter figures out what he is, so he kills her as well. He is in turned destroyed by the third daughter when his murders are revealed. Bud is a con man and sociopath who kills deliberately in order to get what he wants, rather than out of impulse. As with other noir mysteries, Budd is ultimately destroyed by his own greed, his actions and fate's twists.

Noir fiction reached its peak in the 1950's. However, society changed and by the 1960's the popularity of noir fiction declined. Most of the paperback publishers either went out of business or changed their focus to newer genre fiction, like as the James Bond type of spy thrillers. Several early noir authors faded into obscurity. Their work going out of print, but some were rediscovered in the 1980's. These rediscovered works influenced writers, beginning a wave of neo-noir fiction. Authors like Hammett, Woolrich, Cain, and Thompson among others left us with a disturbing but powerful body of work which explored the gritty underbelly of American society during some of its darkest moments. More importantly, classic noir mysteries are compelling reads that still keep readers looking for more.

Sources:

James Tuttle, What is Noir?

Bella Online; Edie Dykeman, Noir Fiction