The month of May, as I’m sure you know, is merry. And this year, it was especially happy for the Reading group because we were looking at the great PG Wodehouse. It was joy and sunshine and light and I loved it. But as Reading group regular JudgeDamnNation pointed out, the opposite end of the spectrum also has its appeal:
“The further I get on with Psmith, the more impressed I am with the twists and turns, and even when you see them coming you have to admire the way it all comes together. As for the prose itself, it seems to me that Wodehouse’s style is almost a twin of Raymond Chandler: their way with words and metaphors is similarly unique yet always spot on, but while Chandler’s is acerbic and acid-tongued, Wodehouse is frothy and high-spirited. Maybe for next month we could drop from the jollities of Blandings into the murky depths of noir, with some Dashiell Hammett or James M Cain or something. Bit of a contrast, what?”
By the time this suggestion was posted, we had the next month covered, and I decided to hold off. Not least because another clever reader (whose identity, I’m afraid has been lost deep on a comment thread) came up with the brilliant idea that we might have a noir Christmas.
So here we go. The first question, of course, is how to define noir. Chandler, Hammett and James M Cain as mentioned by JudgeDamnNation have to be big contenders. But there are plenty of possibilities. Having recently watched the Robert Siodmack film of The Killers, for instance, I’d say plenty of Hemingway fits the bill, with his pared-down dialogue, brooding men and guns going off. But I’d also be keen to see nominations for more voluptuous writers such as Rex Stout. Any book from the 1940s where a guy in a homburg runs the risk of being slugged and/or getting caught up in a fast-paced slanging match is all right with me. But that’s not to say we should stick with the middle of the 20th century. James Ellroy and Ross MacDonald wrote some of the finest and deepest noir long after the world went technicolor. I’d also be very keen to include Elmore Leonard, because, you know, he’s Elmore Leonard. And let’s please not confine it to men. Some of the best noir and crime writers are women. Margaret Millar springs first to my mind – but I’m sure you’ll be able to think of plenty of others.
On that note, I realise that as often happens, I’m running away with myself and slamming down suggestions when really, the choice is yours. So please nominate your favourite piece of noir fiction in the comments below. And feel free to give an explanation of whatever you think noir fiction may be. I’ll put the suggestions into a hat and pull out a winner in a few days’ time.
