Mediterranean noir

Mediterranean Noir refers to a literary style that employs elements of noir and hardboiled crime fiction in a Mediterranean setting. Sex, crime, and physical violence often figure prominently in Mediterranean Noir narratives. Social and historical issues specific to the region – particularly governmental corruption and instability, war, and racial strife – are frequently underlying plot considerations. Prominent authors of the movement include Jean-Claude Izzo, Andrea Camilleri, Massimo Carlotto, Eduardo Mendoza, and Batya Gur.

According to the Italian publisher Sandro Ferri, Mediterranean Noir is remarkable for its attention to a unique duality of Mediterranean life:

The prevailing vision in the novels belonging to the genre known as Mediterranean noir is a pessimistic one. Authors and their literary inventions look upon the cities of the Mediterranean and see places that have been broken, battered, and distorted by crime. There is always a kind of dualism that pervades these works. On one hand, there is the Mediterranean lifestyle-- fine wine and fine food, friendship, conviviality, solidarity, blue skies and limpid seas-- an art of living brought almost to perfection. On the other hand, violence, corruption, greed, and abuses of power.

External links

• Europa Editions staff, Sandro Ferri
• Europa Editions press room, Massimo Carlotto

References

• Oliver, Brian (January 30, 2005). "I'm not interested in the good guys winning". The Guardian. http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/crime/story/0,6000,1401620,00.html. 
• Reynolds, Michael (2006). "Black and Blue: An Introduction to the Mediterranean Noir Novel". Europa Editions. http://www.europaeditions.com/pressroom-read.php?Id=92#INTRODUCTION. 
• Kletter, Dana (April 26 2006). "Med Noir". The Boston Phoenix. http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid10056.aspx.