| Noir is typically considered a historicized, niche genre, in which specific works from roughly 1930--1950 are classified through their use of visual aesthetics of shadows and angles, a disenfranchised and disillusioned detective, and a problem situated within the underworlds of society. However, noir is much broader, working as a narrative ethos to reveal the alienation of the detective as he or she attempts to answer questions of intrigue. This is particularly the case in the moment of decolonization for the traditional British male subject; as various undergrounds, or non-normative groups, attempt to rewrite society, the male "detective" then tries to seek an answer to these problems. In the first half of the thesis, I discuss how J.G. Ballard's The Crystal World and Graham Greene's The Heart of the Matter use both the visual stylizations and narrative devices of noir to show the process of detection and marginalization of any individual who cannot adapt. In the second half, I explore Ian Fleming's Diamonds Are Forever and J.G. Ballard's The Drowned World to demonstrate how intrigue works to create a noir narrative. Intrigue being a modernist problem showcases the fallacy of "all knowing" detective of 19th century literature, especially in a decolonial moment. Any solution brings forth new problems and alienation until the erasure of the disenfranchised individual is complete. These four texts then work together to show that noir is the logic that underpins the displacement, alienation, and ultimate death of the British male body within the (de)colonial world. |
