TO NOIR OR NOT TO NOIR: Walter Kirn investigates the “noir” influences in Cormac McCarthy’s new novel, “No Country for Old Men,” in the 7/2405 New York Times Book Review (“No Country for Old Men: Texas Noir”). Here’s an excerpt: “Like classic French cooking, the best American crime fiction relies on a limited number of simple ingredients (which may be why it's so popular in France). Too much temptation. Too little wisdom. Too many weak, bad men. Too few strong, good ones. And spread over everything, freedom. Freedom and space. The freedom (perhaps illusory) to make poor choices and the space (as real as the highways) to flee their consequences -- temporarily, at least….Cormac McCarthy's ‘No Country for Old Men’ is as bracing a variation on these noir orthodoxies as any fan of the genre could expect, although his admirers may not be sure at first about quite how to take the book, which doesn't bend its genre or transcend it but determinedly straightens it back out.” Noir and anti-noir seem to be in fashion these days. Check out “Mystery Noir,” the theme for this year’s Casper College Literary Conference Oct. 1 in Casper. Your noirmaster will be James Sallis. Call 1-800-442-2963 for tickets for Sallis’s workshop.

- posted by Michael Shay @ 10:55 AM