The Etiqueta Negra (Black Label ) Series, published by  Editorial Jucar  (Gijón) from  1986 to 1995 comprises  140 outstanding noir novels (including the odd collection of short stories, such as  Hammett’s Cuentos). They are from, mainly, America, France and Spain.  By then of course, the canonisation process  has happened elsewhere long ago (in France, in Gallimard’s Série Noire, mostly, and in Hollywood, obviously).  Or  it is already well underway: the noir genre’s winners in the international competition for literary survival are very well known.  McCoy, Goodis, Himes, Thompson, Manchette, and Westlake, amongst others. But  more recent authors, such as Ellroy, and rising stars in particular from France (Daeninckx, Jonquet, Pennac and Vilar) and Spain are integrated within the collection, and benefit the most from such a symbolic canonisation.

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