“Noir you see it, Noir you don’t” A Brief Explanation of this Noir Blog.

When setting out on such an endeavor as this, an important groundwork must be laid. We shall begin with the definitions, and from there move swiftly to the prize. Success would be impossible without understanding the content and the context, so these quotes will help us grab at the neck of it. According to the Oxford English Dictionary:

noir, adj. and n.

1. Black, dark. Also fig.: bleak, desolate. (Freq. as postmodifier, after French use.)
2. That is in the style of a film noir; gloomy and fatalistic in character; (also) using cinematic devices such as wide angles and partial lighting; urban, morally ambiguous, anti-heroic. Cf. film noir n.

Merriam-Webster puts it this way:

1:crime fiction featuring hard-boiled cynical characters and bleak sleazy settings

This site is dedicated to hunting all things that resemble these definitions, more particularly the best the genre has to offer. Because noir has crossed the boundaries of ALL media, this site will explore each of those vistas eagerly. Ultimately, I hope that one day we may snag the “BIG-ONE,” the very epitome of excellence in the noir genre, but until then I will be searching diligently on the high seas of media. May all our harpoons be sharpened and poised for the appearance of the fabled noirWHALE, and may we have the courage necessary to lance and breach when presented the opportunity. Amen.

I leave you with the words of the french poet Henri Auguste Barbier:

“Enfin, dans un amas de choses, sombre, immense,
Un peuple noir, vivant et mourant en silence.”

(“Finally, within a huge and sombre mass of things,
A blackened people, living and dying in silence.”)

Me in my den