detective fiction-the many shades of black
travelling through the lines of dark literature Hard Boiled America
The USA is the birthplace of detective fiction. All that has followed in other countries has either followed on from there or gone against it. In the 1920s, detectives and the police became the stars of popular fiction. Most of the time they were rebellious lone wolves and always witnesses to the individualism of the North American system. They are the type of tough guy that all women love to love at least once in their lives. The women in the stories were either a secretary or a femme fatale. Violence is a key element to American detective fiction. This violence is justified in either of these two ways: the bad guys use it to show how evil they are while the law defenders use it to maintain the balance and to overcome the criminals. The 60s saw the start of the decline in detective fiction. The new realities of the Cold War hailed the era of the spy fighting foreign enemies. Authors: Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Horace McCoy, Jim Thompson, Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy, Michael Connelly, Phillipe Kerr,...
The French "Polar"
Detective fiction got a foothold in France when in 1945, publishers Gallimard created the Serie Noir collection. The genre was soon nicknamed "Polar" after the word 'policier.' In the 70s when all screens were overrun with hippies and beatniks, there was a huge resurge in the detective novel. The genre nicknamed ̈Polar ̈ had little to do with the 'Official' France. Instead, it was peopled by the habitants of the worse-off city neighbourhoods, sea ports and many other glamour-less haunts. It is mostly urban setting that features immigrants and government corruption. J.P. Manchette, one of the major forces behind the 70s resurge in neo-polar literature, neatly sums it all up: "In the French detective novel, politicians and criminals unite in a highly dubious play on relationships that mirrors reality." Authors: J.P. Manchette, Didier Daeninckx, D. Pennac, J. Fran ois Vilar, T. Jonquet, Yasmina Khadra,...
The dark reality of Latin-America
Argentinean writer Raul Argemi says that what's special about Latin-American detective fiction is to be found in its concept of justice. In Europe and The USA the genre is more conservative because it ultimately believes in the justice system, unlike in Latin-America. In Latin-America, detective fiction is always much darker because it takes you to the roots of injustice. Mexican writer Fritz Glockner states: ̈There is no such thing as a detective because justice is not a positive value. A Mexican policeman is, intrinsically, never a good person." A second peculiarity: politics. In Latin-American countries writers hone in on social and economical conditions on the continent and both ideology and politics have a much larger presence in Latin-American detective fiction than in its counterparts in other parts of the world. Authors: Elmer Mendoza, Rubem Fonseca, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Poli D}lano, Ram n D az Eterovic, Luis SepSlveda, Sergio G mez, , Marisol LLano, Lens Espinosa, Leonardo Padura...
Blackness in the realms of white.
Detective novels from the frozen snowy-white plains of the North have become kings of the bestsellers. Police inspectors and detectives from the North possess huge social consciousness and are defenders of morality. The type of issues that are dealt with in the newspapers of developed countries fill the pages of these novels: sexism, racism, migration, ecology... but more-importantly, these novels from the frozen tundra show us the fissures that exist in these welfare states and they uncover the miseries hidden beneath the snow. With a certain sense of disappointment, they try to sympathise with character types from American detective fiction, but on most occasions, the fiction from Scandinavia is representative of current political correctness and morality. Authors: Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, Camile L`ckberg, Anne Holt, Karin Fossum, Christian Jungersen, Arni Thorarinsson, Lars Gustafsson,...
The USA is the birthplace of detective fiction. All that has followed in other countries has either followed on from there or gone against it. In the 1920s, detectives and the police became the stars of popular fiction. Most of the time they were rebellious lone wolves and always witnesses to the individualism of the North American system. They are the type of tough guy that all women love to love at least once in their lives. The women in the stories were either a secretary or a femme fatale. Violence is a key element to American detective fiction. This violence is justified in either of these two ways: the bad guys use it to show how evil they are while the law defenders use it to maintain the balance and to overcome the criminals. The 60s saw the start of the decline in detective fiction. The new realities of the Cold War hailed the era of the spy fighting foreign enemies. Authors: Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Horace McCoy, Jim Thompson, Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy, Michael Connelly, Phillipe Kerr,...
The French "Polar"
Detective fiction got a foothold in France when in 1945, publishers Gallimard created the Serie Noir collection. The genre was soon nicknamed "Polar" after the word 'policier.' In the 70s when all screens were overrun with hippies and beatniks, there was a huge resurge in the detective novel. The genre nicknamed ̈Polar ̈ had little to do with the 'Official' France. Instead, it was peopled by the habitants of the worse-off city neighbourhoods, sea ports and many other glamour-less haunts. It is mostly urban setting that features immigrants and government corruption. J.P. Manchette, one of the major forces behind the 70s resurge in neo-polar literature, neatly sums it all up: "In the French detective novel, politicians and criminals unite in a highly dubious play on relationships that mirrors reality." Authors: J.P. Manchette, Didier Daeninckx, D. Pennac, J. Fran ois Vilar, T. Jonquet, Yasmina Khadra,...
The dark reality of Latin-America
Argentinean writer Raul Argemi says that what's special about Latin-American detective fiction is to be found in its concept of justice. In Europe and The USA the genre is more conservative because it ultimately believes in the justice system, unlike in Latin-America. In Latin-America, detective fiction is always much darker because it takes you to the roots of injustice. Mexican writer Fritz Glockner states: ̈There is no such thing as a detective because justice is not a positive value. A Mexican policeman is, intrinsically, never a good person." A second peculiarity: politics. In Latin-American countries writers hone in on social and economical conditions on the continent and both ideology and politics have a much larger presence in Latin-American detective fiction than in its counterparts in other parts of the world. Authors: Elmer Mendoza, Rubem Fonseca, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Poli D}lano, Ram n D az Eterovic, Luis SepSlveda, Sergio G mez, , Marisol LLano, Lens Espinosa, Leonardo Padura...
Blackness in the realms of white.
Detective novels from the frozen snowy-white plains of the North have become kings of the bestsellers. Police inspectors and detectives from the North possess huge social consciousness and are defenders of morality. The type of issues that are dealt with in the newspapers of developed countries fill the pages of these novels: sexism, racism, migration, ecology... but more-importantly, these novels from the frozen tundra show us the fissures that exist in these welfare states and they uncover the miseries hidden beneath the snow. With a certain sense of disappointment, they try to sympathise with character types from American detective fiction, but on most occasions, the fiction from Scandinavia is representative of current political correctness and morality. Authors: Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, Camile L`ckberg, Anne Holt, Karin Fossum, Christian Jungersen, Arni Thorarinsson, Lars Gustafsson,...
