{"id":89995,"date":"2017-12-17T15:54:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-17T15:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/?p=89995"},"modified":"2017-12-17T15:54:58","modified_gmt":"2017-12-17T15:54:58","slug":"all-the-way-up-and-all-the-way-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/all-the-way-up-and-all-the-way-down\/","title":{"rendered":"All the Way Up and All the Way Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nicky Charlish.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nick Triplow, Getting Carter – Ted Lewis and the Birth of Brit Noir<\/em> (No Exit Press, 2017)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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It’s tempting to think of the<\/span> noir<\/span> movie as an exclusively American product. <\/span>The hard-bitten<\/span> shamus<\/span>, the <\/span>cast-iron frail<\/span>, the leather-jacketed punk, all <\/span>have a spirit which <\/span>seem<\/span>s<\/span> impossible <\/span>of crossing-over<\/span> <\/span>into <\/span>a <\/span>Brit<\/span>ish <\/span>setting.<\/span> <\/span>Occasionally though, a British <\/span>film noir<\/span> punctures this lazy assumption, rising head and shoulders above the offerings of Hollywood. Such an offering is <\/span>Get Carter<\/span><\/em>. <\/span>It’<\/span>s <\/span>the story of Jack Carter, a London gangster, returning to his hometown of Newcastle to avenge the death of his brother.<\/span> Now, <\/span>from this biography, <\/span>we get the chance to learn about its literary progenitor, <\/span>a writer who has <\/span>largely <\/span>remained in the shadows of British crime writing<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Born in <\/span>1942, in Manchester, <\/span>Ted <\/span>Lewis was <\/span>brought-up<\/span> in an exclusively female household<\/span> \u2013 an experience common for many children raised during the Second World War \u2013 <\/span>whilst h<\/span>i<\/span>s fa<\/span>t<\/span>her<\/span> <\/span>served in the <\/span>R<\/span>oyal Air Force.<\/span> F<\/span>our<\/span> years <\/span>l<\/span>ater, after <\/span>demobilisation,<\/span> Lewis senior moved <\/span>his<\/span> family to Barton-upon-Humber, in the East Midlands, <\/span>to<\/span> work as a quarry manager. <\/span>Biographer Nick <\/span>Triplow<\/span>, himself a crime novelist<\/span> now based in the same town<\/span>, takes us through Lewis’s early<\/span> and teenage<\/span> years, vivid<\/span>l<\/span>y evoking a world of <\/span>post-war <\/span>austerity<\/span>,<\/span> a<\/span>long with<\/span> <\/span>a <\/span>school <\/span>ethos and <\/span>discipline<\/span> almost unimaginable to today’s <\/span>therapy<\/span> <\/span>culture<\/span>-cosseted<\/span>,<\/span> <\/span>web<\/span>-nurtured <\/span>Generation <\/span>Xers<\/span> and <\/span>Millenials<\/span> (Norman Goddard, Le<\/span>w<\/span>is<\/span>‘<\/span> Grammar School <\/span>headmaster, <\/span>when t<\/span>old that<\/span> he<\/span>, Goddard, <\/span>had terrified a former pupil<\/span>,<\/span> repl<\/span>ied<\/span> \u2018Ah, but it worked<\/span>,<\/span> didn’t it?’, a<\/span> pedagogic pathway <\/span>unlikely to commend itself to today<\/span>‘<\/span>s educational establishment<\/span>, or parents<\/span>. In fai<\/span>r<\/span>ness<\/span>,<\/span> though, schools<\/span> of that era<\/span>, whilst tough, arguably <\/span>also <\/span>had <\/span>standards of education<\/span> that<\/span>, <\/span>unencumbered by targets and <\/span>the \u2018<\/span>all must have prizes<\/span>‘<\/span> <\/span>ethos<\/span> of modern schooling<\/span>, challenged pupils <\/span>from modest backgrounds <\/span>and enabled them to thrive<\/span>)<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span>The literate <\/span>Lewis<\/span>, imbib<\/span>i<\/span>ng <\/span>a <\/span>mixture of <\/span>American <\/span>literature, <\/span>film, and <\/span>music<\/span>, did not fit into the<\/span> school’s <\/span>aspirational middle-class ethos<\/span> even though his short stories shone in <\/span>its<\/span> magazine<\/span>.<\/span> In 1956<\/span> he was asked to leave, but landed on his feet by getting<\/span> into the <\/span>Hull School of <\/span>A<\/span>rts and Crafts<\/span>. From here \u2013 aided and abetted by being in <\/span>a <\/span>band and hedonistic trips to London gigs \u2013 it was a journey<\/span> (<\/span>via, improbably<\/span>,<\/span> Westland<\/span> Aircraft in Somerset<\/span>)<\/span> to <\/span>work<\/span>ing <\/span>as a commercial artist in <\/span>London. Or<\/span>,<\/span> more precisely, the j<\/span>ust-about-bohemian Soho of the early 1960s, the Soho of the Coach, the French, the <\/span>M<\/span>andrake, the Colony Room and Gerry’s \u2013<\/span> <\/span>and the also the Soho of <\/span>Maltese gangs, of <\/span>the <\/span>Krays<\/span> and <\/span>Richardsons<\/span>, in which latter criminal ethos he hovered <\/span>with <\/span>cautious<\/span> interest.<\/span> In <\/span>1965<\/span>,<\/span> whilst <\/span>still <\/span>working as an illustrator, Lewis published <\/span>All <\/span>t<\/span>he Way Home <\/span>a<\/span>nd All <\/span>the<\/span> Night Through<\/span><\/em>, a story <\/span>of <\/span>art school life, <\/span>drink<\/span>,<\/span> music <\/span>and young love <\/span>based on his <\/span>student years. Lewis combined an uncertain literary life, including short-sto<\/span>r<\/span>y writing for the t<\/span>e<\/span>en magazine <\/span>P<\/span>etticoat<\/span><\/em>, with continuing to work as <\/span>an <\/span>illustrator on, among <\/span>o<\/span>ther<\/span> assignments,<\/span> <\/span>the Beatles’ <\/span>animated <\/span>film<\/span> <\/span>Yellow Submarine<\/span><\/em>. <\/span>But in 1970 h<\/span>e published the <\/span>crim<\/span>e<\/span> novel <\/span>Jack’s Return Home<\/span><\/em>. <\/span>S<\/span>napp<\/span>e<\/span>d-up<\/span> by <\/span>film <\/span>p<\/span>roducer Michael Klinger, on the look-out for a tough<\/span> British <\/span>thriller<\/span> as a subject for a film and<\/span> \u2013<\/span> via<\/span> amendment by film director Mike Hodges \u2013 it became the film <\/span>Get Carter<\/span><\/em>, released in 1971<\/span>. This was <\/span>a <\/span>stellar success \u2013<\/span> it<\/span> not only starred Michael Caine as its anti-hero, but <\/span>also <\/span>featured <\/span>other <\/span>noteworthy<\/span> <\/span>actors:<\/span> the excellent<\/span> Bernard <\/span>Hepton<\/span> <\/span>as<\/span> small-time crook Thorpe, <\/span>Brian Mosley and playwright John Osborne <\/span>playing<\/span>, respectively, the gangsters <\/span>Cliff <\/span>Brumby and <\/span>Cyril <\/span>Kinnear, <\/span>Ian Hendry <\/span>depicting<\/span> <\/span>Kinnear’s<\/span> henchman Eric <\/span>Paice<\/span>, <\/span>and John <\/span>Bindon<\/span> p<\/span>erforming as <\/span>Sid<\/span>, one of the<\/span> Fletcher<\/span> <\/span>brothers for whom Carter works <\/span>(<\/span>a <\/span>role <\/span>into<\/span> which<\/span>, given <\/span>Bindon’s<\/span> gangland connections,<\/span> he would <\/span>doubtless <\/span>have immersed himself with ease<\/span>)<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span>Lewis’<\/span>s boa<\/span>t<\/span> had come in, big<\/span> <\/span>time.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Except it<\/span> hadn’t.<\/span> Lew<\/span>i<\/span>s would foll<\/span>o<\/span>w<\/span> through<\/span> with more<\/span> noir<\/span> novels<\/span> \u2013<\/span> <\/span>Plender<\/span>, <\/span>Prisoner<\/span>,<\/span> <\/span>Boldt<\/span>, <\/span>GBH<\/span><\/em> <\/span>(noteworthy<\/span>, among other things,<\/span> for the way it depicts violence, not directly, but by showing its onlookers reactions to it)<\/span>. <\/span>He also wrote for the <\/span>television <\/span>cop show <\/span>Z<\/span> Cars<\/span><\/em>,<\/span> <\/span>notable for its pioneering, warts-and-all depiction of the police<\/span> and their work<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span>For Lewis<\/span>,<\/span> all this should have resulted in an arc of achievement, building on the success of <\/span>Get Carter<\/span><\/em>. Instead, it was a one-way trip down, due to his contest with that familiar artistic <\/span>b\u00c3\u00aate noir<\/span>, the bottle<\/span> \u2013 something which was not helped by his personality being, as <\/span>Triplow<\/span> tells us, \u2018charming’ one moment and \u2018obnoxious’ the next.<\/span> <\/span>His affair with drink started early \u2013 a<\/span> photograph in the book shows a teenage Lewis in a seriously inebriated state, and fame would do nothing to slow down his love of alcohol \u2013 a love that would lead to his death, in 1982, at the age of 42.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Triplow<\/span> manages to extract several noteworthy points from w<\/span>hat might seem to be the<\/span> unprofitable <\/span>wreckage of a wasted life<\/span> \u2013 a major achievement as he has had few primary sources to work with.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

First, the writer of<\/span> noir<\/span> must know him or her<\/span> <\/span>self \u2013 however unpleasant that self might be \u2013 and bring <\/span>the experience of gaining that knowledge<\/span> into the work: in <\/span>All <\/span>t<\/span>he Way Home<\/span><\/em>,<\/span> Lewis presents his alter ego, Victor, as violent, jealous, <\/span>self<\/span>-absorbed. And if the writer can’t always present everything about himself<\/span> openly<\/span>, he can hint at it: in notes he kept in 1964 (three years before the decriminalisation of male homosexual sex over the age of 21), Lewis gives the suggestion that he may have had gay relationships. Indeed, <\/span>he<\/span> may have used<\/span> noir<\/span> writing as a way of exploring his own dark side.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second,<\/span> unlike some crime genres,<\/span> noir<\/span> is not designed to make us comfortable. <\/span>Order is not necessarily going to be restored with a drawing-room denouement. Good and evil both have their areas of grey. <\/span>The writing<\/span> d<\/span>eal<\/span>s<\/span> with those who are society’s <\/span>losers (whatever their socio-econ<\/span>o<\/span>m<\/span>i<\/span>c status<\/span> \u2013 think of the businessman in <\/span>Get Carter<\/span><\/em> <\/span>who loses at cards<\/span>:<\/span> one <\/span>suspects that it’s only a matter of time before the tax man catches up with him).<\/span> It contai<\/span>ns<\/span> p<\/span>eople<\/span> who we may find ourselves identifying with, however much that may go against our <\/span>instincts: Carter<\/span> is <\/span>vicious<\/span> and <\/span>amoral, but <\/span>we<\/span> can understand the famil<\/span>y<\/span> <\/span>ties and <\/span>feelings <\/span>which motivate him.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Third, <\/span>the <\/span>writer<\/span> <\/span>must be ready to show the underbelly of his or her society, not only to attack that society’s smugness and pretence, but also <\/span>possibly <\/span>because the writer has hopes \u2013 against all the odds \u2013 for something better <\/span>to emerge <\/span>in <\/span>it<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span>Tr<\/span>i<\/span>plow<\/span> gives an example from <\/span>Jack’s Return Home<\/span><\/em> in which Carter bluffs his way into the casino owned by Kinnear. This scene<\/span> \u2013 via Carter’s reflections on the punters he finds himself amongst \u2013<\/span> gives Lewis a chance to appraise the results of post-war aspirational change and the vulgarity that went with it. <\/span>Triplow<\/span> quotes <\/span>novelist <\/span>D<\/span>avid Peace referring to \u2018a sustained <\/span>war’ on working-class culture, leading to writers such as Lewis, <\/span>John <\/span>Braine and <\/span>Alan <\/span>Sillitoe<\/span> being <\/span>sidelined<\/span>. Maybe<\/span> \u2013 no mainstream British political party finds that culture attractive <\/span>today <\/span>although all, in the past, have sought to woo it. <\/span>But the <\/span>aspirationalism<\/span> which Lewis criticises could also have played its part<\/span> in that culture’s decline<\/span>: people<\/span> <\/span>want to forget where they’ve striven to escape from. And Britain<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>being the land of the diamond geezer, decent bloke and jolly good chap<\/span> \u2013<\/span> is perhaps particularly full of those unwilling to even admit that life has a dark side, let alone examine it.<\/span> Those two naughty public schoolboy writers, Derek Raymond and Simon Raven, also pulled no punches when it came to showing <\/span>the seamy side of <\/span>British life at either end of the class spectrum<\/span>.<\/span> By way of contrast, the works of both Lewis and Raymond are revered in France.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, long before <\/span>hashtag<\/span> campaigns and <\/span>the calling-out of everyday sexism<\/span>, Lewis had <\/span>a <\/span>clear idea that the sexual revolution which <\/span>had <\/span>arisen<\/span> <\/span>in the mid-Sixties <\/span>with high hopes of erecting some form of sexual nirva<\/span>n<\/span>a<\/span> <\/span>(at least, for men) <\/span>had a deeply unattractive side. <\/span>(<\/span>It would, arguably, be some time for feminists to pick-up on this, possibly through fear of being seen as anti-progressive<\/span> \u2013 and some of them were enjoying its delights, too<\/span>)<\/span>. <\/span>In <\/span>Jack’s Return Home<\/span><\/em>, <\/span>Carter uses sex as a way of keeping his landlady sweet. And <\/span>Peter the Dutchman, one of the two Fletcher <\/span>brothers<\/span>‘<\/span> <\/span>henchm<\/span>e<\/span>n sent to bring Carter back to London, is a sadistic homosexual<\/span> \u2013<\/span> <\/span>a denizen of <\/span>a <\/span>tough<\/span>, pre-Pride<\/span> <\/span>Soho <\/span>gay world<\/span> yet to be embellished w<\/span>ith rainbow flags<\/span> \u2013<\/span> who relates with relish a story of two <\/span>butch <\/span>lesbians<\/span> beating-up<\/span> a young girl. <\/span>Plender<\/span><\/em>, published in 1971, <\/span>shows a world <\/span>where <\/span>sex is used for blackmail, or as a commodity.<\/span> (The treatment meted out to women in Lewis’ novels may reflect misogyny on his part, but it should be remembered that implementing the second-wave feminism which was just starting to develop in the late 1960s was not a conce<\/span>r<\/span>n for the men in the criminal circles he depicted.)<\/span><\/p>\n

The final chapter of this biography looks at modern-day British crime writing and Lewis’ place within it<\/span>,<\/span> with writers such as Peace acknowledging their debt to him. However <\/span>it can be argued that <\/span>\u2013 due to the <\/span>changed nature of modern-day crime<\/span>, along with the rise of political correctness \u2013 the full implementation of the Lewis spirit raises problems. W<\/span>orking-<\/span>class white<\/span> criminal<\/span> <\/span>geezer<\/span>s<\/span> <\/span>of the sort he wrote about <\/span>are no more<\/span>. Or rather, they are, but have a different modus operandi<\/span>: <\/span>present-day <\/span>hard men<\/span> f<\/span>r<\/span>om the badlands of Essex and <\/span>K<\/span>ent have seen where high-profile<\/span>, publicity-relishing<\/span> <\/span>crims<\/span> like the <\/span>Krays<\/span> <\/span>have <\/span>end<\/span>ed<\/span>-up, so <\/span>keep their activiti<\/span>es strictly <\/span>sub <\/span>rosa<\/span>,<\/span> <\/span>and <\/span>thus<\/span> more difficult to portray<\/span>. <\/span> <\/span>In addition,<\/span> working-class white geezers are<\/span> \u2013<\/span> arguably<\/span> \u2013<\/span> the only social group <\/span>that<\/span> can be portrayed in a critical light without <\/span>risking <\/span>the PC police descending with virtue-signalling <\/span>sirens blaring and <\/span>lights flashing. Today’s diverse society offers a rich mix of criminals<\/span>,<\/span> from all sorts and conditions of <\/span>cultures, races and <\/span>religions<\/span>,<\/span> ripe for <\/span>literary <\/span>exploration<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

But tackling issues like people-smuggling and\/or trafficking, or urban gangs <\/span>(<\/span>which <\/span>usually provid<\/span>e<\/span> the only male role-models their members have encountered<\/span> \u2013 for most, dad is a long-gone figure<\/span>) <\/span>dealing drugs and pur<\/span>s<\/span>uing beefs \u2013 usually at knife-point \u2013 is taking a major risk. In her debut novel <\/span>White Teeth<\/span><\/em>, <\/span>Zadie<\/span> Smith could portray<\/span> Islamic <\/span>A<\/span>sian boy gangs in her home turf of Willesden without criticism<\/span>: i<\/span>t’s <\/span>questionable<\/span> <\/span>whether <\/span>she could do so now, especially post the Rushdie fatwa. <\/span> <\/span>But cultural conflict, sexual politics and u<\/span>rban issues can only be addressed by being met head<\/span>–<\/span>on, not by being swept under a PC carpet. One of the functions of<\/span> noir<\/span> is to <\/span>excavate and examine<\/span> society’s underside, however unattractive or disturbing that might be.<\/span> <\/span>And<\/span>, in a society<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>mirroring much of the Western world<\/span> \u2013<\/span> which has <\/span>witnessed in recent years <\/span>a popular revolt resulting in <\/span>the <\/span>gradual <\/span>unraveling of an enforced <\/span>PC <\/span>social consensus, a<\/span>long with<\/span> the <\/span>emergence of Red Tories and Blue Labour, <\/span>people may be up for <\/span>the unrestricted <\/span>discussi<\/span>on<\/span> <\/span>of <\/span>soci<\/span>etal<\/span> change<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span>Indeed, there is an urgent necessity for this<\/span>: social pressure cookers \u2013 like their culinary counterparts \u2013 have a nasty habit of exploding if their lids are kept on too long.<\/span> <\/span>But it <\/span>can<\/span> <\/span>\u2013 and has to \u2013 <\/span>be done. <\/span>Noir writers should learn from Jack Carter: for him,<\/span> dishing out violence is<\/span> a <\/span>full-time job<\/span>, and for them writing about society’s underside should be their constant<\/span> quest<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nicky <\/span>C<\/span>h<\/span>a<\/span>rlish<\/span><\/strong> is a freelance writer<\/span> <\/span>and <\/span>proofreader<\/span> <\/span>who has contributed to, among other<\/span> publication<\/span>s, <\/span>Melody Maker<\/span>, <\/span>Record Mirror<\/span>, <\/span>Midweek<\/span><\/em> and, currently, to<\/span> <\/span>London Calling<\/span>, <\/span>Spindle<\/span><\/em>, and <\/span>London in Stereo<\/span><\/em> online magazines. His<\/span> debut novel, <\/span>Gender Justice<\/span><\/em>, is due for publication in the New Y<\/span>e<\/span>ar.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Triplow quotes novelist David Peace referring to \u2018a sustained war’ on working-class culture, leading to writers such as Lewis, John Braine and Alan Sillitoe being sidelined. Maybe \u2014 no mainstream British political party finds that culture attractive today although all, in the past, have sought to woo it. But the aspirationalism which Lewis criticises could also have played its part in that culture’s decline: people want to forget where they’ve striven to escape from. And Britain \u2014 being the land of the diamond geezer, decent bloke and jolly good chap \u2014 is perhaps particularly full of those unwilling to even admit that life has a dark side, let alone examine it.<\/p>\n

\nNicky Charlish<\/b> on Getting Carter – Ted Lewis and the Birth of Brit Noir<\/em> by Nick Triplow<\/b>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":90003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-criticism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89995"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90005,"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89995\/revisions\/90005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}