American Crime Fiction
Brian Docherty(Author)
Palgrave Macmillan (Publisher)
Published on 4. May 1988
Book
Hardback
156 pages
978-0-333-44181-7 (ISBN)
Description
This volume offers critical and theoretical perspectives on one of the most popular and enduring literary genres: American crime fiction. There are essays on Edgar Allan Poe, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M.Cain, Mickey Spillane, George V.Higgins and Jerome Charyn, covering the period from 1840 to 1980. Hammett and Chandler have two essays each, reflecting their importance, and lasting influence on the genre. Each essay deals with a major aspect or concept associated with crime fiction. A variety of reading strategies are employed to interrogate these texts, illustrating both the range of approaches available and the fact that modern literary theory can usefully be applied to any text or genre. Students of crime fiction seeking new readings, and readers interested in modern approaches to literature, such as psychoanalytic theories, Marxist theory, semiotics, and linguistic theory, will find this book useful and informative. The essays are all new, and have been specially written for Insights by leading academics.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Basingstoke
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
bibliography, index
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 141 mm
Weight
348 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-333-44181-7 (9780333441817)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/1988
1st Edition
Palgrave Macmillan
€16.99
Available for download
Content
Notes on the Contributors - General Editor's Preface - Acknowledgements - Hard Talk and Mean Streets: An Introduction to this Volume; B.Docherty - The Detective Myth in Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin Trilogy; C.Rollason - Camera Eye/Private Eye; P.Humm - Investigating the Investigator: Hammett's Continental Op.; G.Day - Radical Anger: Dashiell Hammett's 'Red Harvest'; C.Bentley - 'A Hard Cheerfulness': An Introduction to Raymond Chandler; S.Knight - Sexuality, Guilt and Detection: Tension between History and Suspense; R.Bradbury - Towards a Semiotic Reading of Mickey Spillane; O.L'Henry Evans - Very Nearly G.B.H.: Savouring the Texts of George V.Higgins; M.J.Hayes - Exploding the Genre: The Crime Fiction of Jermone Charyn; M.Woolf - Selected Bibliography - Index