- Tartan Noir
Tartan Noir is a form of
crime fiction particular toScotland and Scottish writers. It has its roots inScottish literature but borrows elements from elsewhere, including from the work ofJames Ellroy and thehardboiled genre. The name itself was coined by Ellroy, who calledIan Rankin "the king of tartan noir" for a book cover.Fact|date=March 2007Roots and influences
Tartan Noir draws on the traditions of Scottish literature, being strongly influenced by
James Hogg 's "Confessions of a Justified Sinner" andRobert Louis Stevenson 's "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ". These works dwell on the duality of the soul; the nature of good and evil; issues of redemption, salvation and damnation amongst others. "Caledonian antisyzygy" - a Scottish phenomenon of the duality of a single entity - is a key driving force in Scottish literature, but appears especially prominently in the Tartan Noir genre.Influences from outside Scotland most noticeably include the
hardboiled genre, particularlyDashiell Hammett andRaymond Chandler . This can be most clearly seen in the work ofAllan Guthrie , although the work of Ian Rankin also bears hardboiled's imprints. More recent influences include the work ofJames Ellroy , whose focus on police and societal corruption has proven especially resonant withIan Rankin .Ed McBain 's use of thepolice procedural genre has also been influential.Outside the U.S., European traditions have had an impact in Scottish crime writing that is not so obvious in England.
Georges Simenon 'sInspector Maigret goes after the criminals, but refuses to judge them, seeing it rather as a human situation to be understood. Echoes of Maigret can be clearly seen in Inspector Jack Laidlaw, lead character ofWilliam McIlvanney 's "Laidlaw". The social criticism inSjöwall and Wahlöö 'sMartin Beck detective series is also present in many works of Tartan Noir.With its combination of the
police procedural with Simenon's humanism, McIlvanney's "Laidlaw" novel can be seen as the first proper novel of the genre. While "Laidlaw" is critically important, and one many authors drew inspiration from, the TV series "Taggart " established crime in a Scottish setting in the popular imagination. It is plausible to speculate thatGlenn Chandler , creator of Taggart and writer of many of its early stories, drew inspiration from "Laidlaw". Both share a setting (Glasgow ) and involve the investigations by Glasgow police into murders.Characteristics
The world-view of Tartan Noir tends toward the cynical and world-weary, typified by
hardboiled . Many of the protagonists in Tartan Noir stories areanti-hero es, with readers not automatically being expected to sympathise with them – an illustrative example appears inIan Rankin 's "Knots and Crosses " whenInspector Rebus blatantly stealsbread roll s andmilk from a shop, without apology or remorse. The main characters often go through personal crises in the course of the stories, with these crises often forming a key part of the story. Often the main character has personal reasons for dealing with the crime, whether through something in their history or sense of right and wrong. WhenVal McDermid 's characterLindsay Gordon has a friend killed at atrade union conference, she uses the murder and homophobic jibes aimed at her former lover's death as impetus for catching a murderer.Criticism
There is considerable critical discussion of whether the genre is a viable one, or one created by publishers seeking a
unique selling point for an audience tired of a glut of US and English crime fiction. William McIlvanney has said that the whole genre is "ersatz " [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/08/27/bomcil.xml] .The wide spectrum of authors from
Val McDermid toIan Rankin has given critics further grounds for questioning the existence of the genre, as has its very name. Charles Taylor has noted that the term has an "inescapably condescending tinge", noting "it's a touristy phrase, suggesting that there's something quaint about hard-boiled crime fiction that comes from the land of kilts and haggis." [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E0DD103AF931A15751C0A9629C8B63]Tartan Noir writers
*
Lin Anderson
*Christopher Brookmyre
*Glenn Chandler
* Alex Gray [http://www.jennybrownassociates.com/clients/gray.html]
*Allan Guthrie
*Stuart MacBride
*Val McDermid
*William McIlvanney
*Denise Mina
*Ian Rankin
*Manda Scott
*Louise Welsh Landmark Tartan Noir titles
* "Black and Blue" by
Ian Rankin
* "Laidlaw" byWilliam McIlvanney External links
* [http://www.booksfromscotland.com/Features/Reading-Guides/Crime Overview of Scottish Crime Fiction]
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