Crime novels : American noir of the 1930s and 40s.

Format:

Book

Series:

Library of America ; 94.

Library of America ; 94

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Detective and mystery stories, American.

American fiction--20th century.

American fiction.

Detective and mystery stories.

Genre:

Detective and mystery stories, American.

Fiction.

Physical Description:

990 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Library of America : Distributed to the trade in the U.S. by Penguin Books USA, [1997]

Summary:

This adventurous volume, with its companion devoted to the 1950s, presents a rich vein of modern American writing too often neglected in mainstream literary histories. Evolving out of the terse and violent hardboiled style of the pulp magazines, noir fiction expanded over the decades into a varied and innovative body of writing. Tapping deep roots in the American literary imagination, the novels in this volume explore themes of crime, guilt, deception, obsessive passion, murder, and the disintegrating psyche. With visionary and often subversive force they create a dark and violent mythology out of the most commonplace elements of modern life. The raw power of their vernacular style has profoundly influenced contemporary American culture and writing. Far from formulaic, they are ambitious works which bend the rules of genre fiction to their often experimental purposes.

Contents:

The postman always rings twice / James M. Cain

They shoot horses, don't they / Horace McCoy

Thieves like us / Edward Anderson

The big clock / Kenneth Fearing

Nightmare alley / William Lindsay Gresham

I married a dead man / Cornell Woolrich.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 983-990).

Contains:

Cain, James M. (James Mallahan), 1892-1977. Postman always rings twice.

McCoy, Horace, 1897-1955. They shoot horses, don't they.

Anderson, Edward, 1905-1969. Thieves like us.

Fearing, Kenneth, 1902-1961. Big clock.

Gresham, William Lindsay, 1909-1962. Nightmare alley.

Woolrich, Cornell, 1903-1968. I married a dead man.

ISBN:

1883011469

OCLC:

36372337