What really caught my ear is when one of you mentioned class warfare. I love crime fiction that covers bigger picture political or sociological themes. Don Winslow’s Power of the Dog trilogy comes to mind. It’s all about the war on drugs. What other books are in this social commentary realm?
Same here. Love that shit. Well—I'd say true 'noir' is ALL about sociological themes...From the past: Some that come to mind are Dorothy B Hughes' The Expendable Man, Jim Thompson's noir novels (Savage Night, The Nothing Man), Jean Patrick Manchette, David Goodis (Down There, Black Friday), all of Chandler's PI stuff. More contemporary: I'd say Chuck Pahalniuk, Vern Smith's Scratching the Flint, SA Cosby's recent novels, Pablo D'Stair's Trevor English noir novellas (criminally under-read and unknown), all of this is just off the cuff though...I'll try to think of more...The political piece is harder—way harder to do well...I highly recommend Newton Thornburg's Cutter & Bone, but that one's from the early '80s.
Interesting! Yeah noir has that element I like of society shoving people in a corner and keeping them there--an illustration of class warfare. But I also associate it with bad decisions and personal demons, perhaps more so.
That’s a great list to look up. I’ve read the older authors but not those titles. And none of the contemporary except one Cosby, which was fantastic and certainly does fit what we’re talking about here.
Maybe this question of political and social themes could be a topic for some future episode/guest.
What really caught my ear is when one of you mentioned class warfare. I love crime fiction that covers bigger picture political or sociological themes. Don Winslow’s Power of the Dog trilogy comes to mind. It’s all about the war on drugs. What other books are in this social commentary realm?
Same here. Love that shit. Well—I'd say true 'noir' is ALL about sociological themes...From the past: Some that come to mind are Dorothy B Hughes' The Expendable Man, Jim Thompson's noir novels (Savage Night, The Nothing Man), Jean Patrick Manchette, David Goodis (Down There, Black Friday), all of Chandler's PI stuff. More contemporary: I'd say Chuck Pahalniuk, Vern Smith's Scratching the Flint, SA Cosby's recent novels, Pablo D'Stair's Trevor English noir novellas (criminally under-read and unknown), all of this is just off the cuff though...I'll try to think of more...The political piece is harder—way harder to do well...I highly recommend Newton Thornburg's Cutter & Bone, but that one's from the early '80s.
Interesting! Yeah noir has that element I like of society shoving people in a corner and keeping them there--an illustration of class warfare. But I also associate it with bad decisions and personal demons, perhaps more so.
That’s a great list to look up. I’ve read the older authors but not those titles. And none of the contemporary except one Cosby, which was fantastic and certainly does fit what we’re talking about here.
Maybe this question of political and social themes could be a topic for some future episode/guest.
Just finished listening. Mighty high praise. Now I gotta get me some Sam Wiebe.
Thanks for listening!