America is elsewhere : the noir tradition in the age of consumer culture / Erik Dussere.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dussere, Erik, 1968- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Detective and mystery stories, American--History and criticism.

Detective and mystery stories, American.

Noir fiction, American--History and criticism.

Noir fiction, American.

Film noir--United States--History and criticism.

Film noir.

United States.

National characteristics, American, in literature.

Masculinity in literature.

Physical Description:

x, 299 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, [2014]

Summary:

America Is Elsewhere investigates the literary and cinematic category of "noir" and its role in the clash between authenticity and consumer culture that has helped to define post-World War II America. Erik Dussere considers the conflict by exploring the commercial spaces that appear in works throughout the genre. He searches the supermarkets and gas stations found in films like Double Indemnity and The Killers; journeys into Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles; follows the trail of paranoia in neo-noir conspiracy thrillers like The Parallax View: and, ultimately, delves into the contemporary American spaces created by cyberpunk and the Coen brothers. Book jacket.

Contents:

Last chance Texaco: gas station noir

The publishing class: detectives and executives in noir fiction

The gumshoe vanishes: conspiracy film in the sixties era

Flirters, deserters, wimps and pimps: Pynchon's two Americas

Black ops: ghetto space and counterconspiracy

Postmodern authenticity, or, cyberpunk

The space of the clock: the corporation as genre in the Hudsucker Proxy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199969913

0199969914

9780199969920

0199969922

0199970734

9780199970735

OCLC:

835951221