Punk "Noir": Anarchy in Two Idioms

Punk "Noir": Anarchy in Two Idioms
Author(s): Susanna Lee
Source: Yale French Studies, No. 108, Crime Fictions (2005), pp. 177-188
Published by: Yale University Press
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SUSANNA LEE
PunkNoir:Anarchyin Two Idioms
This essayexaminesconnectionsbetweenpunkrockmusicand conFrenchcrimefiction.It focusesin particularon theroman
temporary
a
hard-boilednovel,
noir, stylethatarose fromthe Anglo-American
cametoprominence
inFrancethrough
theSerienoire,andunderscores
social disorder
ratherthannarrative
orjudicialresolution.The richassociationbetweenpunkandnoirresidesin soundsandimagesas well
an imas in mood,atmosphere,
ideologies,andaudience.It represents
notjustofmediaandphilosophiesbutalso ofcritportantconvergence
ical perspectives-a place fromwhichthelimitsofethicaland sociocan be fruitfully
logicalapproachesto literature
explored.
To open,I will discusstwo popularcontemporary
crimeauthors,
Michel Steinerand Daniel Pennac. Steinerhas publishedsix novels
since 1998,includingMainmorte(1998),Petitesmortsdans un h6pital psychiatriquede campagne(1999),Rachel la dame de carreau
(2000),and Les jouets (2001).Pennacis theauthorofAu bonheurdes
ogres(1985),La fdecarabine (1987), La petitemarchandede prose
(1989),and Commeunroman(1992),amongothers.Theseauthorsfurnish a valuable departurepointbecause theyembodytwo principal
strainsin the contemporary
ofsocial disorder.One is
representation
therepresentation
ofchaosas an aesthetically
endeavor,as
fascinating
an art.The secondis therepresentation
ofchaos as a sourceoffunand
as an antidotetoboredom.
recreation,
For Michel Steiner,as for numerous other noir authors,the
woundedormurdered
body-as well as thescene thatsurroundsthat
body-is a workofart.Mainmorte,Steiner'sfirstnovel,openswiththe
victimfoundcookedin his apartment:"Cooked! The bodyhad been
cookedfromheadtotoe.The headwas preparedinthemannerofa tite
de veau. Stuffedneck, choppedliver with eggs and onions,heart
YFS 108,CrimeFictions,ed.AndreaGouletandSusannaLee,
? 2005byYale University.
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177
178
YaleFrenchStudies
saut6edwithparsley,ragoutlungs,intestinesin thestyleofCaen. The
rightlegwas roasted,theleftarmwas cookedin a pastrycrust,which
has beenartfully
carved."'
Petitesmortsdans un h6pitalpsychiatriquede campagneopens
with a man who has been drugged,given a sex-changeoperation,
ofandleftunconsciousin a psychoanalyst's
dressed,made-up,coiffed,
in
fice:"A revolting
an
was
armchair,
legsspread,
dragqueen
slumped
armsdangling.
His thick,curdledsalivaerodedthelipstickonhislower
smearsthattrickleddownhis neck."2
lip and carriedshrimp-colored
"He producedthroaty
soundssimilarto thesoundofa sinkregurgitatin
ingas itempties"(13)."The copspushedthisworkofartmarinating
itsjuicesto thebackoftheelevator"(15).
installations,we turnto
Keepingin mindtheseCremaster-esque
His Au bonheurdes
Pennac'sscenesofsemi-choreographed
mayhem.3
ogres,translatedin Englishas The Scapegoatand based (very)loosely
on Zola's Au bonheurdes dames,givesus on theonehandthedailylife
of a Monoprix,completewith socioeconomicdeclineand urbanennui.4 Butit is also a chronicleofserialexplosions.Duringone ofthe
overthesmaller
detonations:"The bigger[customers]
weretrampling
ones.Someofthemwereevendashingdirectly
alongthecountertops,
splashingsocksand underwearall overthestore.A heftycharacterin
a violetjackethad been thrownthrougha cosmeticsdisplaycase....
The Storewas one giganticscream."sAfteranothersuch incident:
"Cazeneuvegothis facesmashedin. Butnotbyme. Bytheold lady's
torn-off
arm.I watchedtheperfectcurvedrawnbythegeyserofblood
thatwas spurtingout ofher" (39). Even on dayswithoutexplosions,
productfailuresproducea kaleidoscopicbedlamin the store:"This
Itwas a mirhadsuddenlytransformed
itselfintoan incinerator.
fridge
in thisarti1. MichelSteiner,
Mainmorte(Paris:Baleine,1998),9. All translations
cle aremyownunlessotherwisespecified.
2. Steiner,
de campagne(Paris:Baleine,
Petitesmortsdansunh6pitalpsychiatrique
1998),10.
3. MatthewBarney,
"The Cremaster
Cycle,"1995-2002.See,forexamples,http://
www.cremaster.net.
of
4. I havearguedelsewherethatOgrestracesthebanalizationandcontamination
ofthecapitalistenterprise,
and ofthebourgeoisfamilyin thehundred
consumerism,
totheresidual
thatitconnectsthatcontamination
yearssinceDames and,furthermore,
ofbothwartraumaandurbanviolence.SusannaLee,"Au bonheurdes ogresand
effects
Au bonheurdes dames:The dismantling
in theSerienoire,"Dalhousie
offoundations
FrenchStudies63 (Summer2003):45.
5. Daniel Pennac,The Scapegoat,trans.Ian Monk. (London:The HarvillPress,
1998),6
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SUSANNA
LEE
179
acle that our lady customerhadn't been burnedalive when she'd
openedits doorthismorning"(3).Furtheron: "A womanwas screaming.A deodorantsprayhad turnedintoa grenadein herdelicatehand,
swellingit up intoa boxingglove"(129).
In Steiner'sscenes,disfiguration
is a monstrousstill-life;in Pennac's scenes,a sortofobscenevideogame.Butin bothcases,theemphasisis on violenceand chaos-from mutilationofthebodyto disturbanceofthepeace-as a visual and musical spectacle.Sound(the
transvestitegurgling,customersscreaming,glass smashing,appliances igniting)and visuals (gaudydribbles,carvedbodyparts,a drag
a violetvestas projectile,customerssoaring,blood
queenmarinating,
to
handsinflating)
aboundin thesescenes.Alsofundamental
spurting,
theseinterludesis theuse ofthebanal (cooking,an elevator,a refrigera discountstore)as backdroporas materialforthesinator,deodorant,
isterand the chaotic.Furthermore,
in bothcases, thereactionofthe
detectiveandindeedtheentirepublicis oneofironic-or hard-boileddetachment.In Petitesmorts,the police are amused at the sightof
themutilatedmonstrosity.
"She'sa cutie!Friendofyours?" (14).In The
Scapegoat,the grislyscenes of carnageare caughton cameraby the
store'sphotoboothand publishedon the frontpage of the paper,to
theamusementoftheMalaussenechildren.
FACETO FACEWITHHIS OWNDEATH!"screamed
thenextday's
followed
ofphotoboothsnapswhichtook
headlines,
byfourblow-ups
ofthepage.... Inthethird
hisfacewasbreaking
uptheentirety
photo,
and
hisforehead
arches
ofhiseyebrows
weresubsiding,
up.Thepointed
skullhadshockwavesrunning
overthem,
hispupilshadgobbled
uphis
hisfacein half.(The
irises,hismouthwasa diagonalcrevicecutting
Scapegoat,
119;myellipses).
In a sense,the increasedrepresentation
ofviolenceand chaos is prewhat
the
marks
transition
the
from
r6citde detectionto therocisely
man noirin thesecondhalfofthetwentieth
is
This transition
century.
oftendescribedin criticismin termsofnarrative
orderversusdisorder,
finitudeversusinfinitude.
DorothySayerswrotein 1929 thatthe detectivenovelas suchwouldsome daycometo an end,simplybecause
thepublicwouldhavelearnedall thetricks.WritesRogerCaillois: "In
the romanpolicier,the narrativefollowsthe orderof discovery....
Reasoningeliminatessensation."6In responseto thespecterofintel6. DorothySayers,citedin Uri Eisenzweig,Le rgcitimpossible(Paris:Christian
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180
YaleFrenchStudies
lectualand experiential
thepolicier-especiallyin Francefinitude,
founda sourceofboundlessnessin violence.
The representation
ofexuberantsocialdisorder,
expandingin scope
and sensation,is inextricably
intertwined
with-and, in criticism,
mostdiscussedin termsof-the influenceofcinema.7Cinemagaveus
a seriesofimages,a sense ofmotion,a fusionofsound,visual exciteonthiscinema-drivI wanttoconcentrate
ment,andemotionalenergy.
en expandedsensoryoverload-sound and visual images and emotion-as well as on thecontamination
ofthebanalorbourgeoisandon
theatmosphere
in thefaceofchaos,all ofwhich
ofamuseddetachment
we findin moderncrimefiction.Andtheseelements,I wouldpropose,
moveus fromthe40s to the 70s and 80s,fromtheclassichard-boiled
to thecontemporary
fromthesensationSerienoire,and,importantly,
alismofcinemato thesensationalismofpunkrock.
The lines betweencontemporary
Frenchcrimefictionand punk
rockareso numerousas to demandcomment,thoughthisconnection
has notbeen discussedin literarycriticism.Theirassociationis crucial, though,forthroughit we can bothunderstandtheparticularaptransformapeal ofthemodernromannoirand discerncontemporary
tionsinthesocialfunction
On theonehand,punkandthe
ofliterature.
romannoircoverthesameaestheticterrain:
exuberantcolors,loudand
cacophonoussounds,a celebrationoftheuglyandgrotesque,an incliof
nationto spectacularordisturbing
visuals,an ironiccontamination
the seedy,
the everyday.
The same thematicterrain:theunderworld,
the sociallyunproductive,
the morallyunexemplary,
outcasts,vioexplolence,drugs,crime,alienation.A similarformalconstruction:
sive verbalburstsor scenesofviolencealternatedwithsocial and political criticism,a chaoticpatchworkof images,highvelocity,high
The same emotionalterrain:amused
volume,and a strongrhythm.8
Bourgois,1986),179.RogerCaillois,Le romanpolicier(BuenosAires:Editionsdes lettresfrangaises,
1941),11,myellipses.
7. See,forexample,Claude-Edmonde
Magny,L'dgeduromanamericain(Paris:Editionsdu Seuil,1948)andFrancisLacassin,Mythologie
du romanpolicier(Paris:Union
generaled'6dition,1974).
8. A reviewofJ.P. Manchette'sfictiondescribedtheformandcontentofhis writaren'tcrimesolvers,andhisstoriesaren'tpage-turningthus:"Manchette's
protagonists
ersin theconventional
his stories
sense.Rather,
hisheroesareangst-ridden
anti-heroes,
thoseofalienatedmenwhounexpectedly
withbloodoftheirown,and
findthemselves
others,ontheirhands.BothTheProneGunmanand3 toKillarefullofnasty,sadisticviolence,leavenedjustenoughbyironyandblackhumorto be tolerable."Andthen:"To
call Manchette'sstyleplainwouldbe an understatement..,.
he writesa cool and lean
prose;each sentenceexistsonlyto advancefromdisasterto disaster,or to relaysome
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SUSANNA
LEE
181
belligerence,contempt,ennui,rebellion,apathy,hate. (Marcel Duthis
hamel,founderofthe Serienoire,includedin his autobiography
ratherpunkrockrumination
on hisbucolicroots:"LittlevillagesofPicardie,I hateyou."9)Giventhecombinationofironichumorandmisthat
anthropicderisionthatinfusesbothgenres,it is not surprising
resemblepunk
as noirnarratives
punksongsresemblenoirnarratives
songs.Indeed,so close arenoirandpunkin ethosand aestheticthatit
is hardto discernwhichamongthefollowing
arebooktitlesandwhich
are songs:"La mortau choix," "Macadam massacre,""H61'ne et le
sang," "Noir les horreurs,""Vive le feu,""Grainede violence,""A
boutportant,""Rue desfusill6s,""Boutdu monde,""On n'estpas des
chiens,""Pitbull,""Der des ders,""Plut6tcrever."l0
In thiscomparisonofpunkto crimefiction,I understand
punkin
termsof atmosphereand aesthetic.I do not endeavorto determine
whichmusiciansarepunkand whicharenot,norto definepunkideologyexhaustively.
Instead,I followthelead ofGreilMarcus,who describedvarioussocial movementsin termsofpunkrockevenas he describedpunk rock in termsof those social movements.In Lipstick
Traces,Marcusexaminedphilosophyfromperspectivesnot so much
as aesthetic,sensational.The parameters
of"punk"used
metaphysical
in thisarticlearesimilarlymoreatmospheric
andemotionalthantheoretical.Forinstance,writesLegsMcNeil,one oftheauthorsofPlease
Kill Me: "The wordpunkseemedto sumup thethreadthatconnected
we liked-drunk,obnoxious,smartbutnotpretentious,
abeverything
and
that
darker
Greil
to
the
surd,funny,
ironic, things appealed
side.""11
Marcus likenspunk to postmoderndisenchantment
as describedby
painfulmomentfromthepast." HillaryFrey"The Pleasuresof Crime,"The Nation
(March15,2004):33. Wereone to thinkin termsofmusiciansratherthangunmen,of
chordprogressions
rather
thansentences,
thesedescriptions
wouldbe quitereminiscent
ofpunkmusiccriticism.
KristinRosswritesofdetectivefiction's
tensionbetweenmatterand form:"The veryvelocityoftheform,thefeverishaccelerationin pace ofhermeneuticfrenzy
thatplummetsthereaderheadforward
to thefinalmomentsdemands
a solid,reliableclosure,a reaffirmation
ofsome comforting
orderand stabilityin the
world."KristinRoss,"Watching
theDetectives,"inPostmodernism
and theRe-Reading
ed.FrancisBarker,
ManchesPeterHulme,Margaret
Iversen(Manchester:
ofModernity,
terUniversity
Press,1992),46-65.
9. MarcelDuhamel,Racontepas ta vie (Paris:Mercurede France,1972),16.
10. "La mortau choix,""Macadammassacre,""Hdlne et le sang,""Noirles horNoir."Grainede violence,""A boutporreurs,"and "Vivele feu"aresongsbyBerurier
tant,"and"Rue desfusilles"aresongsbyMolodoi,and"Boutdumonde,""On n'estpas
deschiens,""Pitbull,""Derdesders,"and"Plut6tcrever"arefiction
titlesfromtheSerie
noire.
11. Legs McNeil and GillianMcCain, Please Kill Me (New York:PenguinBooks,
1996),204.
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182
YaleFrenchStudies
Adorno:"You can findpunkbetweeneveryotherline ofMinimaMoralia: its miasmicloathingforwhatWesterncivilizationhad madeof
itselfbytheend oftheSecondWorldWarwas, by 1977,thestuffofa
ofromansnoirs,as
hundredsongsandslogans."'2(Itwas also thestuff
Claire Gorrarahas pointedout.)'3SylvieFaurewritesofFrenchpunk
is also validforEnglishandAmerican)intermsofwhat
(thedescription
she calls the"courageoraudacityoftheugly."'14Disillusionment,social criticism,"miasmicloathing,"highvolume,momentum,relenta sense ofvisual,musical,and social cacophony,ennui,
less rhythm,
ferociouscolorandemotion,a bemusedruinationofthe
marginalism,
bourgeois:suchis thecommongroundofpunkandthenoir.
The historicaltimelineis similarforpunkrockandtheromannoir.
The Serienoirewas bornaboutthesametimeas rockandrollandmany
of its most popularauthors-Daniel Pennac, FrancisRyck,Pierre
Siniac,DidierDaenincxk-publishedin thepunkrockeraofthesevthe geographicalcoursesof
enties and earlyeighties.Furthermore,
crimefictionandpunkwerecomparable.In bothdomains,FranceimportedheavilyfromAmericaand England.'5And in bothalternative
music and crimefiction,Englishand Americanartists,seen as the
foundersof theirrespectivegenres,have an enormousfollowingin
France. RaymondChandler,JamesHadley Chase, Peter Cheyney,
Dashiell Hammett,andJimThompson(alwaysmorepopularinFrance
thanin his nativeAmerica),have an almostcultfollowingin modern
France,as do Lou Reed,IggyPop,and theVelvetUnderground.
The mechanicsofdistribution
forpunkandfortheromannoirare
also analogous.Each representsthe darkundersideof its respective
labels or sublabelsare instrugenre,and in bothcases, underground
mentalto theirdistribution.
The Serienoirewas in a sense to fiction
whatDischordandRoughTradeandLastCall weretomusic.Andwith
theSerienoirenow canonicalin itsway,otherimprints(Baleine,Flo12. GreilMarcus,LipstickTraces:A SecretHistoryoftheTwentieth
Century(CamMA: HarvardUniversity
bridge,
Press,1990).
oftheHoloMemories
13. ClaireGorrara,
onCrimeandPunishment:
"Reflections
caustinRecent
French
Crime
inthisissue.
Fiction,"
them
tomake
14."French
tomake
themselves:
made
a goalfor
move,
people
punks
"Lemouvement
react
tosleep."
them
that
wasputting
Faure,
against
Sylvie
everything
InterUnprocessus
danstousses
inLachanson
deseduction"
(NewYork:
'punk:'
,tats
link,
1987).
ofEuastherest
15.Writes
Faure:
hasthesamesocial
"Even
France
problems
though
of
there
think
don't
starts
outasanimport;
theFrench
rope,
punk
away
producing
right
it locally"(224).
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SUSANNA
LEE
183
have come to replaceit as theoutsider.Also commonto
rent-Massot)
thetwo idiomsis therapid-fire
pace ofproductionand distributioninnumerablesmallacts on smalllabels,withunevendistribution
and
smallunderground
followings.
At times,Frenchpunkexplicitlyalignsitselfwiththeromannoir.
The publicitycopyoftheFrenchindependent
label Last Call records
proclaimsofthebandWarumJoe:"Cleverlyrics,barbedwiregrooves,
punkguitarspiralsand spartanpower .... These Frenchguysseemed
to emergefroma darkdetectivenovel ... trackaftertrackoffantastic
storiesabout exotic dictators,familyspies, Russian astronauts,or
as punkbands,
washed-upsoldiers."16This allianceis not surprising,
drawn
perhapsmorethanothersortsofbands,have long
inspiration
fromliterature.
Noir
PressreleasesfortheFrenchpunkbandBerurier
a
the
"At
band
to
characters
in
Clockwork
verydescompare
Orange:
and
shouted
when
their
rockers
black
were
peratetime,
wearing
punk
'no future'slogans,our duo was creatinga worldof extravaganza,
coloursand wild feasts.Dressedas clowns-and farfromtheresignationofthenew-wavecirca-theirlyrix[sic]werewild withironyand
social claims."" CarrieNolanddescribesPattiSmith'sstudiedevocation of Rimbaud,writing:"Rimbaud'svision of the smithyat his
bothhis artandhis selfto achievea
'chantier,'beatingandmutilating
newart,a newself,becomesforSmithan analogyforthetransgressive
experimentalmusical practiceto which she, and otherpunk musicians,will aspire."'8France'spremierpunkbandM6tal Urbaindrew
fromthatliterary
ofGlam Rock,thelatenineinspiration
predecessor
These lines
decadentanti-naturalism
ofHuysmans.19
teenth-century
ofinfluencearenotlimitedto France:theSex Pistols'Johnny
Rotten
founda modelin RichardIII,20whiletheVelvetUnderground
honored
thenineteenth-century
GermanauthorLeopoldSacher-Masochwith
theirmusicalversionof"Venusin Furs."
16. WebsiteforLastCall records,
1997:http://www.lastcallrecords.com/
biographies/
warum_eng.html
17. WebsiteforLastCall records,1985.
18. CarrieJaures
Noland,"RimbaudandPattiSmith:Styleas SocialDeviance,"Critical Inquiry21 (Spring1995):581-610,601.PattiSmithis notaloneinheralliancewith
to the
Rimbaud.Molodoi's"Ame errante,"
forinstance,is yetanothersongthatrefers
poet.
19. Interview
bySusannaLee oftricDebris,lead singerofMetalUrbain,Washington,DC, April7,2004.
20. "I saw therewas a rolemodel,anotherblokewitha curvedspine.Deformed.
Deformed."JulienTemple,TheFilthand theFury.This 2000moviealternatesSex Pistols
concertfootagewithscenesofLaurenceOlivieras RichardIII.
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184
YaleFrenchStudies
As punkdrawsfromliterature,
so, too,does theromannoirevoke
thecacophonies,and someandimplicitly)
thesentiments,
(explicitly
timeseven theprecisewordsofpunk.MauriceDantec,forinstance,
Francis
dedicatedhis BabylonBabies to Nine InchNails and Prodigy.
Ryck'sLe testamentd'Ameriquehas its principalcharacterdeclare,
threeyearsbeforethe Sex Pistols:"We are made forchaos,"21while
PatrickEudeline'sCe siecle aura ta peau, in a nodto Lou Reed'sgrimy
urbanscene,has itsprincipalcharacterfollowingthewomanhe later
murders"downthefoutuBoulevard."22
In additionto thesecommonalities,
punkrockand theromannoir
Patrick
The aforementioned
sometimeshave the same practitioners.
Eudeline,rockcriticforthemagazineBest,startedthepunkgroupAsandwrotea bookcalledL'aventure
phaltJungle
punk,a cultmanifesto,
beforeturning
tocrimefiction.MauriceDantec,authorofBabylonBabies andLes racinesdu mal,wrotelyricsfortheFrenchbandsArtefact
and No One is Innocent.23
Thereis also considerableoverlapbetween
rockcriticism
andtheromannoir.In2001,theMagazinelitteraire
publisheda storyentitled"Ces critiquesrockqui deviennent6crivains."
The authordiscussesPhilippeParingaux,who wroteforRock et folk
throughthe 70s and then turnedto the suspensenovel and to the
policier(booksincludeCochonpendu,La mortfaitmal,andLe rosaire
de la douleur,thelast twofromtheSerienoire).StillanotherRock et
folk critic,LaurentChalumeau, publishedNeuilly brule-t-il?and
Topodoco,bothofwhichfeatureRock and Roll,two specialagents.24
In thiscomparison,
on similaritiesin formand
I have concentrated
21. "What'sastonishing
isn'tthattheworldis absurd;it'sthatwe havea certainidea
oflogicandreason.Markgotup,scratched
his head:basically,it'sreasonandlogicthat
areabsurd.Wearemadeforchaos,andwe wouldbe perfectly
at ease in itifcrazypeople
hadn'tgoneandinventedreason."FrancisRyck,Le testament
d'Amdrique(Paris:Gallimard:1974),129.
22. PatrickEudeline,Ce siecle aura ta peau (Paris:EditionsFlorent-Massot,
1997),
94. Lou Reed,"DirtyBoulevard"(No one heredreamsofbeinga doctorora lawyeror
anything
/Theydreamofdealingon thedirtyboulevard/ Get to endup,on thedirty
boulevard/Goingout,tothedirtyboulevard/He's goingdown,onthedirty
boulevard).
23. http://www.cafardcosmique.com/auteur/dantec.html
24. PhilippeLacoche,"Ces critiquesrockqui deviennent
ecrivains,"Magazinelitandunteraire404 (December2001):61-65. The commonalities
betweenrockcriticism
literature
arenotpeculiarto France;GreilMarcusclosesIn theFascistBathderground
ofhis rockcriticism,
witha shortstoryentitled"I am a Cliche,"a
room,an anthology
ofKathyAcker'sBlood
taleofmurder,
reminiscent
first-person
sex,andtorture
strongly
and Gutsin HighSchool.Marcus,In theFascistBathroom:Punkin Pop Music 19771992(Cambridge:
HarvardUniversity
Press,1993),389-408.
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SUSANNA
LEE
185
contentandin pace and atmosphere,
ratherthanon theoreticalorideological connections.But even in the realm of declaredideological
foundations,
punkand theromannoirsharean ancestorin theFrench
Situationists.KristinRoss connectsthe Los Angelesevokedin Raymond Chandlerwith the postmodernist
vision of the Situationists:
"Duringa mutuallybeneficialcollaborationwiththeSituationistsin
the early1960s,Lefebvrehad begunto arguethatin late capitalism
practicesofconsumptionact to legitimateand reproducethesystem,
ofan individualorgroup'sparticular
beliefsorvalues."And:
regardless
"The Situationists
wereamongtheearliesttheorists
ofpostmodernism
to focuson Los Angeles" (Ross, 56). In his LipstickTraces,Marcus
refersto connectionsbetweenSituationistInternational
and the Sex
ofthesong"Anarchyin theU.K.": "The songdistilled,
Pistols,writing
in crudelypoeticform,a critiqueofmodernsocietysetoutbya small
groupofParis-basedintellectuals"(Marcus,18).Andthen:"The Situationistssaw boredomas a social pathology:theylookedforitsnegationamongsociopaths"(Marcus,52).
Ina bookentitledLe rock:Aspectsesthetiques,culturelsetsociaux,
a sociologistsurveyedaudiencemembersoutsidea 1990David Bowie
concertto findoutwhytheyhad attendedit.The responsesforBowie
areprobablynotwhattheywouldbe fortheSex Pistols,butthepossible responsesproposedare themselvesofinterestto thepresentcomparison:strongsensations,feeling,ambiance,lifestyle,
evasion,emotionaloutlet,evocationofadolescence,violence,andrebellion.25
Punk
wouldprobablycommanda broaderinterestinrebellion,orat theleast
in theprospectofan emotionaloutlet,thanDavid Bowie.Nonetheless,
theappealto "strongsensations"(thewinneramongtheBowiegoers)
stands,I believe,at theheartofbothrockmusicandcrimefiction.Both
punkand theromannoirillustratehowboredomand disillusionment
ortheboredomoftheado(thecultivatedboredomoftheexistentialist
can
be
cured
to how
bothtestify
lescent)
bymayhem.26
Furthermore,
or
as it mightbe as a sociological psychomayhemitself,interesting
logical phenomenon,is firstand foremostcompellingas entertainment-as an aestheticand,morethanthis,a sensationalphenomenon.
Itis notjustin Francethatpunkrockmusicandcrimefictioncover
the same thematic,emotional,aesthetic,and formalterrain.But in
25. Le rock:Aspectsesthetiques,culturelset sociaux, ed. Anne-MarieGourdon
(Paris:CNRS editions,1994),101.
26. This sameideahasrecently
beenreprised
in cinema,infilmssuchas FightClub.
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186
YaleFrenchStudies
France,the relationshipis unusual,or unusuallyclose. On the one
hand,Franceis uniquein itsprolificSerienoireandothercrimefiction
imprints.On the other,Francehas a less well-developedpunkscene
thanEnglandand America(twocountriesthathave consistently
fed
crimefictionas wellas alternative
musicintoFrance).Theromannoir,
in otherwords,is on numerouslevelspunkrockforFrance.Now,why
talkaboutthis?Whataretheimplicationsofthiscomparison?My intentionis notjustto indicateaestheticor ideologicalcommonalities,
thoughpunkrockand crimefictiondo sharea somewhatRabelaisian
carnivalesque.Thereis indeedsomethingofthemoshpitto Pennac's
Magasin,and somethingofthe IggyPop concertto Michel Steiner's
grotesquetableaux.I wantto proposethatwhenwe have a literature
thatis aboutattitude,thatspeaksthesamelanguageas music,uses the
same distribution
patterns,and is sometimesproducedby the same
people,thenwe have in a sense anotheridiomforloud social commentary.
Or,we haveat leasta familiaridiom-literature-thatoccua
different
socialspaceandcanbe readfromnewaestheticandethpies
ical angles.
beCommonalitiesbetweenpunkand crimefictionareimportant
cause theybreakdown the conceptualdivisionsbetweenthe social
theintricateand
rolesofmusicand literature.
runthrough
Literature,
mediatedmechanismofthewrittenword,is readandjudged
infinitely
frommusic. Listeningto music is considered
profoundly
differently
much moreabout who you are,ratherthanwhat you like to think
about;it is as muchan expressionofattitudeand social positionas it
is a matteroftaste.As AlexRosshas written:"Itis a strangeAmerican
a new
dream,thisnotionthatmusic can giveyou a new personality,
as
even
is
new
a
race.
This
class,
out-of-body
experience thrilling long
as it lasts,butmostpeopleare eventuallydepositedback at thepoint
wheretheystarted,and theymaybeginto hatethemusicforlyingto
The same promisecannotbe said to emergefromliterature,
them.""'27
because
partly
readingis usuallya lesspublicactthanlisteningtomusic-no loud chordsforfamiliesand neighborsto hear,no clothesor
tattoosforothersto look at,no concertsto be seenat. Forthisreason,
perhaps,moralandethicalcriticismofmusicimplicatestheconsumer
andassumescoherentideologicalcommonalities
in a waythatliterary
criticismdoes not. The personwho buysthe music or sees the concertis assumedto shareor at leastbe opento themusician'sWeltan27. AlexRoss,"ListentoThis,"New Yorker
(Feb16 & 23,2004): 146-155,150.
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SUSANNA
LEE
187
themoremarginalthe
chauung,andthisassumptionbecomesstronger
music.One needonlycomparemodesofdescribing
people:to saythat
a personwenttoa BlackFlagconcertis a muchstronger
than
descriptor
to say,forinstance,thatthatpersonreadand enjoyedClockworkOrwhilemusicspeaksto
ange.Readingcan indicateintellectualinterest,
characterandself-image.
One can readforacademicpurposes,butgenerallytheonlyreasonto have a recordon at homeis becauseone likes
it.Andyet,thesimilaritiesbetweenpunkandnoirsystematically
and
underminethesetheoreticaldivisions.
provocatively
Punkrepresents
a marginalatand probablyalwayswill represent
that
an
on
themargins.
attitude
of
themselves
those
who
see
titude,
is,
The similarities
betweenpunkrockandcrimefictionbecomeprovocativebecausecrimefictionis notonlynotmarginal,
it is becomingless
the
titles
Numerous
and
marginalby
(theSerienoirehas
day.
imprints
over2600now)meantheembracing
ofa genrewhosecarnivalesquevision oftheviolentand antisocialhas a longand not-so-venerable
hisin
a
to
the
And
this
amounts
tory
proliferaparallelgenre.
embracing
tion and legitimizationof an attitudethat has in numerousother
contextsbeen called threatening.
We rememberthe concert-goers'
statedmotivationforattendingtheDavid Bowie concert:thepursuit
of"strongsensations."The similarities
betweenpunkmusicandcrime
fictionassumepotentially
scandalousimplicationsbecausetheysituate bothidiomsin thatplace in themindwhere"strongsensations"as
entertainment
blurintoan actualmindset,an actualworldview.Jude
Davies wroteofDick Hebdige'sSubculture:"Hebdige'ssubculturetypifies the sociologicalapproachthat acknowledgesthe oppositional
forceofsubculturesonlybylimitingthatforcetoritualorsymbolicresistance."And: "The closenessofpunk to academictheoriesof the
is foundin twomainareas:itsproblematizing
ofcommupostmodern
itsmost
evenwhenarticulating
nityanditsawarenessofrecuperation
radicalpoliticalmessage."28Davies, like Marcus,presentspunkas a
threadthatrunsthrough
communitiesratherthana phenomenonthat
standsoutsidethem.The asymptotic
ofpunkandtheroconvergence
man noiris botha testamentto and a vehicleforthisincorporation,
boththemarginalnatureofpunkandthecerebralandmechallenging
diatednatureofliterature.
The romannoiris mostoftensituatedin criticismon a literary
his28. JudeDavies, "The Futureof'No Future':PunkRockand Postmodern
Theory,"
in Journal
ofPopularCulture29/4(Spring1996):3-25, 5.
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188
YaleFrenchStudies
toricalcontinuumthatstartswithEmileGaboriauandGastonLeroux,
thenmovesthrough
Simenontothemodernpolar.Withoutcontesting
thisgenealogy,
I wouldproposethatthegenrealso rideson a parallel
track,thatofrockand rolland punkmusic.In proposingthatnoirfictionis punkrockforFrance,I do notwantonlyto suggestthatit is to
literature
whatpunkis to music.I proposealso to attributeto theidiom ofliterature
belongedto punk
propertiesthathave traditionally
music.The mainstreaming-andmorethanthis,theexplosion-of a
literaturethathas so much in commonwithpunkrockis in itselfa
provocativephenomenon,forstructuraland thematicconnections
withmusicgreatlyraisethestakesofthenoir.Werea literary
genreto
claimthesortofculturalweightthathas longbeentheprovinceofthe
musical,thenwe couldbe on theway to a reevaluationofliterature's
place in society,andalso oftheroleoftheauthor.We couldalso arrive
at a novelperspective
on theplace ofthereaderandon ourmoderndefinitionsofideologicaland aestheticcommunities.
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