The Maltese Touch of Evil: Film Noir and Potential Criticism

Preface

Preface Film noir has long been a topic of lively debate in academic and fan communities. More than a style or genre, “noir” designates a glorious and amorphous body of movies that continues to win converts and generate new discussions. While these discussions—whether print, spoken word, or new media—have generated many great insights into the films, which we will briefly outline, their terms and modes now show signs of travelling a few well-worn paths that circumscribe our understanding of noir rather than advancing it. The Maltese Touch of Evil charts a different course, returning to the careful study of the films themselves not to find proofs of the things we already know (or believe we know) about noir but in order to create rigorously structured and systematic wonder, from which may come new information . To signpost this new direction, we must begin our study of film noir with a discussion of an uncommon French word that helps us to consider the potential of a new approach. Though rarely used in modern French, “the word ouvroir has three principal meanings: it denotes the room in a convent where the nuns assemble to work, a charitable institution where indigent women engage in needlework , and a ‘sewing circle’ where well-to-do ladies make clothes for the poor and vestments for the Church.”1 These meanings of ouvroir appealed to a collegial group of writers and mathematicians associated with the Collège de ‘Pataphysique (College of Pataphysics) and interested in the works of Alfred Jarry, who initially dubbed themselves the SLE, or Séminaire de litt érature expérimentale (Seminary of Experimental Literature). This group, with over fifty years of continuous activities and counting, fashioned a new name for themselves in December 1960: ouvroir became a major part of their new identity as they adopted the moniker Oulipo, an acronym for Ouvroir xvi • Preface de Littérature Potentielle (Workshop of Potential Literature). As founding member, Jean Lescure recalls, “Ouvroir appealed to the modest taste we had for beautifully crafted work and good works: out of respect for morals and fine arts, we consented to join to the li the ou” (1973, 30; translation ours).2 Inthisandmanysubsequentstatementsofthegroup’spurpose, Oulipians have insisted upon the “charitable” meanings of ouvroir, stating explicitly, “The Oulipo’s inventions and discoveries are intended for all who wish to use them” (Mathews and Brotchie 2005, 206). Taken together, the above definitions are fundamentally oulipian in that they self-consciously establish the collaborative and open, often tongue-in-cheek, and always good-humored ethosofoulipianendeavor.Smallwonderthatthegroup’searlymembershave included many of the most overtly experimental and self-consciously (but coyly) humorous midcentury European writers, such as Raymond Queneau, François Le Lionnais, Jacques Roubaud, Georges Perec, and Italo Calvino. In English, ouvroir is usually rendered as “workshop,” a translation that loses several definitional threads from the original French. But even “workshop ” can have wonderful and robust connotations for a particular kind of committed and passionate space of action and reflection. In academia, a conferenceworkshopcanbeanopen ,polyvalent,lively,andcontentiouslocation for stimulating discourse on a topic. In the film industry, writers and directors can “workshop” their movie and, in so doing, bring a greater number of gifted and committed personnel (designers, cinematographers, actors, etc.) into the formative stages of the creative act. Because we share a love of both film noir and the Oulipo, and have for some time and in various ways been engaged in their critical appreciation, we agreed to consider what it would mean to craft an oulipian approach to the study of film noir—a densely interwoven body of films that seem to have lost their ability to surprise after having been viewed for so long through certain critical lenses. We wanted a methodology that would be fundamentally collaborative, always aware of its processes and how they impact its products , and able to accommodate and generate the sorts of insights born of self-conscious humor. In all of our noir projects, including these pages you hold before you, we havebeenactivelyengagedincreatingaworkshopdedicatedtoembroidering Preface • xvii new noir text(ile)s. You can call it a “sewing circle,” “knitting group,” or even a “workroom” for film noir scholars, fans, and creative personnel, and into this group we have welcomed everyone who contributes to the critical and creative dimensions of noir. We are grateful to the noir thinkers who have already contributed to our Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir podcast project...