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In MANHATTAN NOIR 2: THE CLASSICS, Lawrence Block presents 20 short stories by many well known authors who wrote about characters living in Manhattan. In his introduction, Block states that the purpose of MANHATTAN NOIR 2 is to illustrate authors and stories previously published rather than to showcase new stories by contemporary authors. The stories he includes range from the 1890s to the contemporary – 2008. While I find it difficult to view a short story written in 2008 as a 'classic', Block does not feel the same constraints. The authors in this book include Edith Wharton, Stephen Crane, O. Henry, Irwin Shaw, Damon Runyon, Evan Hunter, Donald E. Westlake, Joyce Carol Oates, Lawrence Block, Susan Isaacs, and many others. MANHATTAN NOIR 2 is divided into three sections, with each section having a specific time period. Part 1, The Old School, features the older short stories, Part 2, The Poets, is self-explanatory while Part 3, Darkness Visible, features the more contemporary short stories. In addition to short stories, Block also includes three poets; Edgar Allan Poe, Horace Gregory and Geoffrey Bartholomew. Again Block takes some liberties with the premise of this book – stories that occur in Manhattan – as Edgar Allan Poe's poem does not feature Manhattan but it was written while Poe was living in Manhattan. In fact, Block uses a large portion of his introduction to justify its inclusion. The poetry selections by Gregory and Bartholomew do a much better job of meeting his definition of Manhattan noir fiction than the poem by Poe. Surprisingly I found myself enjoying Part 1 more than I expected. While I dreaded studying Edith Wharton, Stephen Crane and O. Henry in English Literature class, I was able to appreciate their short stories. In fact, these stories in MANHATTAN NOIR 2: THE CLASSICS make me think that I might need to give these authors another chance, by trying their full-length novels again. While I appreciate the fact that this book has made me rethink my opinion of certain authors, I was disappointed with this anthology. As the title includes the word 'classic' I expected more stories from the age of pulp fiction than stories from contemporary authors. While Lawrence Block does supply a glimpse of the changing nature of noir fiction from the 1890s to the present, this was not what the book's title implied.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, January 2009
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