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Trapped by Femme Fatale in the World without Order: The Simple Art of Hard-Boiled Fiction and Film Noir.
Abstract
The article presents the beginnings of the hard-boiled novel and film noir, which date back to the 1920s and 1930s. Difficult economic and political conditions of that time gave rise to the new genres in literature and cinematography. The classic novels by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell
Hammett present a world, where crime goes unpunished and order can never be restored. An important role in novel narrative, enabling the authors to build such a vision, is played by the city, presented as a labyrinth that lures the main character in. A lonely detective fights against injustice and often falls for a femme fatale, who abuses him for her own purposes. The paper analyses the history, evolution and characteristics of the literary genre in order to showcase the impact of hard-boiled novels on film noir, as well as to outline the principles of “simple” art of hard-boiled novels and film noir.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/ff.2020.38.1.97-111
Date of publication: 2020-12-21 11:38:56
Date of submission: 2019-12-14 17:33:09
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