L’italia nello specchio del “noir”

The term “noir” is often used nowadays as a synonym to “detective story”, sometimes without a clear differentiation between the two. In fact, “noir” refers to a recent phase of the “detective, crime novel” (in Italian: “giallo”), its “tougher”, more realistic version, with contexts and situations permeated with a more modern form of violence: sometimes organized, more brutal and more cynical.Today’s “noir” can be traced back to the American “detective story” of the 1930s (that of the “hard boiled” genre) whereas the Italian “noir” finds its roots in the more modern phase of the detective literature (from the 1960s up to now), when the tale of mystery, the criminal novel, evolves in a country which, together with its development, is also developing negative features.This work examines publications that can be defined as representatives of the genres (and sub genres) of the “mystery literature” of the past years, giving an insight into the debate on the difference between the detective and the recently evolved noir literature (and on these two genres in general). It also considers the respective initiatives to publish them , their presence in the cultural pages of newspapers and media, the discussions on the characteristics and the status of the two genres, with hints to works and writers as for example, among the others, Giancarlo De Cataldo, Loriano Macchiavelli, Hans Tuzzi, Cristina Cassar Scalia, Grazia Verasani, Gianrico Carofiglio, Valerio Varesi, Alessandro Robecchi, Nino Motta (Paolo Di Stefano).