Jump to content

Southern noir

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Country noir)
Cover of the first edition of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934), an early example of Southern noir

Southern noir is a genre of crime fiction set in the American South. It is considered a subgenre of noir fiction and often deals with themes related to poverty, racism, and violence.[1]

Terminology

[edit]

Southern noir is sometimes also called "rural noir", "country noir", or "grit lit".[2]

Characteristics

[edit]

Southern noir is a subgenre of crime fiction, specifically noir fiction. It is typically written from the point of view of a character who is a perpetrator, victim, or investigator of a crime.[3] It is characterized by its focus on the setting of the American South, but can more broadly include the South, the Ozarks, Appalachia, the Midwest and the Southwestern United States.[4] It typically takes place in rural settings,[5] with vivid, poetic[6] descriptions of landscape and place.[1][7] These settings typically incorporate Southern Gothic aesthetics,[6] and explore elements of religion and the supernatural.[8][9][10]

Southern noir stories can take place in the present day or in the past.[4] The narratives and characters of Southern law are deeply affected by the socioeconomic issues facing the American South in the modern day, including the loss of family farms and factory jobs.[11] The failure of the American Dream in Southern noir leaves rural communities without outside assistance or hope.[12] Poverty, racism, alcoholism, drug addiction, intergenerational conflict, misogyny, sexual violence, and inequality are frequently explored.[13][14][15] Law enforcement are typically complicit in racist violence and Black characters face difficulty receiving justice.[16]

Protagonists in Southern noir fiction are often outsiders in their communities.[1] Characters are typically forced into situations that require them to navigate brutal violence and gray morality.[12][17][16]

History

[edit]

Early examples of Southern noir include The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934) by James M. Cain,[18] Intruder in the Dust (1948) by William Faulkner, and Deliverance (1970) by James Dickey, each of which has been retroactively described as having characteristics common to the genre.[5] One of the first authors to use the term "country noir" was Daniel Woodrell, whose novel Give Us a Kiss was originally titled Give Us A Kiss: A Country Noir.[13] Woodrell later distanced himself from the term, saying that "The use of the term noir is too limiting. I didn’t realize that when I used Country Noir to describe my work, but the word noir is defined by so many ways by so many people that it is essentially useless as a descriptive terms".[19]

Other authors known for writing Southern noir literature include Brian Panowich,[20] S. A. Cosby,[7] James Lee Burke,[21] Tayari Jones, William Gay, Attica Locke, David Joy,[13] Jesmyn Ward, Eli Cranor, and Kelly J. Ford.[22] Many Southern noir writers come from rural regions,[3] and in recent years many African-American authors have become prominent in the genre.[16][23]

The Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry, Cold in July by Joe R. Lansdale, and No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, along with its 2007 film adaptation, have been called "Texas noir".[24] Television series like Quarry,[25] True Detective, Bloodline, and Ozark are also considered developments in the Southern noir genre.[26]

Media

[edit]

A number of works have been described as being a part of the Southern noir genre.[27][28][29][30][31]

Literature

[edit]

Films

[edit]

Television

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
  • Gertzman, Jay A. (2022-10-17). Beyond Twisted Sorrow: The Promise of Country Noir. Down & Out Books.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Magazine, Mystery and Suspense (2023-03-28). "Scandinavian vs Southern Noir". Mystery and Suspense Magazine. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  2. ^ MyBookishWays (2013-01-20). "Grit Lit: An intro to Southern Noir | Crime Fiction Lover". crimefictionlover.com. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  3. ^ a b "Enemies of Reading: A personal journey through 'redneck noir' concludes". The Chestnut Hill Local. 2012-05-10. Retrieved 2025-05-19.
  4. ^ a b Gertzman, Jay A. (2022-10-17). Beyond Twisted Sorrow: The Promise of Country Noir. Down & Out Books. p. 1.
  5. ^ a b "The Rise of Rural Noir: Southern Crime Fiction". THE BITTER SOUTHERNER. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  6. ^ a b Spill, Frédérique (2022-04-02). "Tennessee Noir, or William Gay's "The Paperhanger"". Journal of the Short Story in English. Les Cahiers de la nouvelle (79): 169–188. ISSN 0294-0444. {{cite journal}}: Check |issn= value (help)
  7. ^ a b Swift, Matt (2024-08-14). "Dark Roads and Deep Roots: The Best of Contemporary Southern Noir". The Southern Blueprint. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  8. ^ "Y'all Means All: On the Growing Diversity of Southern Gothic and Rural Noir". CrimeReads. 2024-03-27. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  9. ^ Doherty, Bernard (October 2021). "Christ-haunted but not Christcentred: Ghosts of the Christian South in HBO's true detective". St Mark's Review (257): [46]–69.
  10. ^ "The New Voices of Country Noir". CrimeReads. 2019-12-11. Retrieved 2025-05-19.
  11. ^ "It's More Than Just Meth Labs and Single Wides: A Rural Noir Primer". LitReactor. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  12. ^ a b electricliterature (2014-05-27). "NEW GENRES: Country Noir". Electric Literature. Retrieved 2025-05-19.
  13. ^ a b c "Deluxe: The Rot Under the Magnolias - How "Southern Noir" Literature Addresses Social Issues". Georgia Public Broadcasting. 2024-11-12. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  14. ^ "Brian Panowich's Glorious Bull Mountain Pays Homage to Southern Noir". HuffPost. 2015-07-29. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  15. ^ Fine, Laura (2019-10-20). "Sexual Violence and Cultural Crime in the Country Noir Fiction of Bonnie Jo Campbell". Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 60 (5): 515–526. doi:10.1080/00111619.2019.1612838. ISSN 0011-1619.
  16. ^ a b c Berry, Lorraine (2022-11-28). "Review: S.A. Cosby's reissued debut thriller proves he was a master from the start". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  17. ^ Hoover, Sandra (2022-10-10). "My Darkest Prayer". Mystery and Suspense Magazine. Retrieved 2025-05-19.
  18. ^ Carden, Gary. "Country noir masterpiece gets its due — again". smokymountainnews.com. Retrieved 2025-05-19.
  19. ^ Meier, Tyler (2007-09-25). "Discover Daniel Woodrell « Kenyon Review Blog". The Kenyon Review. Retrieved 2025-05-22.
  20. ^ González, Pedro de la Hoz (2023-02-02). "Country noir, realismo puro y duro". Cubaperiodistas (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-05-19.
  21. ^ Potter, A. M. (2021-05-22). "The King of Southern Noir". North Noir. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  22. ^ "Y'all Means All: On the Growing Diversity of Southern Gothic and Rural Noir". CrimeReads. 2024-03-27. Retrieved 2025-05-22.
  23. ^ "Y'all Means All: On the Growing Diversity of Southern Gothic and Rural Noir". CrimeReads. 2024-03-27. Retrieved 2025-05-22.
  24. ^ "The Rise of Texas Noir". Novel Suspects. 2021-11-15. Retrieved 2025-05-22.
  25. ^ "Quarry TV series co-creator retains books' Southern noir | Arkansas Democrat Gazette". www.arkansasonline.com. 2016-09-25. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  26. ^ Totten, Gary (2022). ""Time is a Flat Circle": The Naturalist Visual Aesthetic of Contemporary Television Crime Series". Studies in American Naturalism. 17 (2): 197–218. doi:10.1353/san.2022.a899844. ISSN 1944-6519.
  27. ^ Smith, Zack (2019-04-17). "The Difference Between Southern Gothic and Southern Noir". INDY Week. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  28. ^ "10 Southern Noir Books That Will Make You Sweat". Murder & Mayhem. 2021-06-15. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  29. ^ Bouman, Tom (2015-05-20). "Top 10 rural noir novels". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  30. ^ "Intrigue and suspense: Exploring the depths of Southern noir". JB Hi-Fi. Retrieved 2025-05-19.
  31. ^ Magallanes, Paola (2024-02-20). "James Ponsoldt curates Southern Noir film series at Ciné". The Red & Black. Retrieved 2025-05-22.

See also

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Southern_noir&oldid=1293638379"