Ross MacDonald y la "Hollywood novel"

Abstract

La novela negra ha revelado una versatilidad que le ha permitido establecer una relación de ósmosis con otros géneros. Uno de ellos es la conocida como «novela de Hollywood». En la narrativa de Ross MacDonald, uno de los maestros de la novela negra norteamericana, se producen abundantes cruces entre las historias de detectives herederas de la ficción hard-boiled y la novela que utiliza el mundo de Hollywood como trasfondo o tema principal de las tramas. El presente artículo trata de mostrar cómo ese diálogo intergenérico se traduce en la incorporación al relato de imágenes de naturaleza cinematográfica o que enfatizan el aspecto fílmico de la realidad que representan.

The noir novel has generated a versatility that has allowed it to establish a relationship of osmosis with other genres, with one of these being the so-called «Hollywood novel». In narrative of Ross MacDonald, one of the masters of the American noir novel, we can find abundant overlaps between the detective stories deriving from the hard-boiled fiction tradition and those novels that use the world of Hollywood as their fictional background or as main element in their plots. The present article attempts to show how this intergeneric dialogue is achieved by the incorporation of cinematographic images in the story or by others that emphasize the filmic aspect of the reality they represent. Likewise, MacDonald's novels and short stories define a universe, settings and characters linked to or in reflection of the American film industry and dominated by the loss of ethical values, delinquency and crime.