American Crime Fiction: Studies in the Genre PDF
Preview American Crime Fiction: Studies in the Genre
AMERICAN CRIME FICTION INSIGHTS General Editor: Clive Bloom, Lecturer in English and Coordinator of American Studies, Middlesex Polytechnic Editorial Board: Clive Bloom, Brian Docherty, Jane Gibb, Keith Shand Insights brings to academics, students and general readers the very best contemporary criticism on neglected literary and cultural areas. It consists of anthologies, each containing original contribu tions by advanced scholars and experts. Each contribution concen trates on a study of a particular work, author or genre in its artistic, historical and cultural context. Published titles Clive Bloom, Brian Docherty, Jane Gibb and Keith Shand (editors) NINETEENTH-CENTURY SUSPENSE: From Poe to Conan Doyle Brian Docherty (editor) AMERICAN CRIME FICTION: Studies in the Genre Further titles in preparation Series Standing Order If you would like to receive future titles in this series as they are published, you can make use of our standing order facility. To place a standing order please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address and the name of the series. Please state with which title you wish to begin your standing order. (If you live outside the UK we may not have the rights for your area, in which case we will forward your order to the publisher concerned.) Standing Order Service, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG 21 2XS, England. American Critne Fiction Studies in the Genre Edited by Brian Docherty M MACMILLAN PRESS ©the Editorial Board, Lumiere (Co-operative) Press Ltd 1988 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1988 978-0-333-44181-7 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1988 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data American crime fiction: studies in the genre. -(Insights Series) 1. Detective and mystery stories, American -History and criticism I. Docherty, Brian II. Series 813' .0872'09 PS374.D4 ISBN 978-0-333-44477-1 ISBN 978-1-349-19225-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-19225-0 Contents Preface vii Acknowledgements viii Notes on the Contributors ix 1 Introduction: Hard Talk and Mean Streets 1 Brian Docherty 2 The Detective Myth in Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin Trilogy 4 Christopher Rollason 3 Camera Eye/Private Eye 23 Peter Humm 4 Investigating the Investigator: Hammett's Continental Op 39 Gary Day 5 Radical Anger: Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest 54 Christopher Bentley 6 'A Hard Cheerfulness': An Introduction to Raymond Chandler 71 Stephen Knight 7 Sexuality, Guilt and Detection: Tension between History and Suspense 88 Richard Bradbury 8 Towards a Semiotic Reading of Mickey Spillane 100 Odette L'Henry Evans v vi Contents 9 Very Nearly GBH: Savouring the Texts of George V. Higgins 115 Michael f. Hayes 10 Exploding the Genre: The Crime Fiction of Jerome Charyn 131 Mike Woolf Select Bibliography 144 Index 145 Preface 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 litera ture, 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 this volume by leading academics. vii Acknowledgements Thanks are due to Graham Greenglass for his artistic guidance, to Lesley Bloom for contributions to typing, to Frances and Leon Kacher for their invaluable assistance, and to Hannah Green, Graham Eyre, Valery Rose, Clive Bloom and Frances Arnold. viii Notes on the Contributors Christopher Bentley has published extensively on English and American literature from the seventeenth to the twentieth cen turies, and on the history of medicine. He has taught in British, Canadian and Australian universities and now lectures at the University of Sydney. Richard Bradbury teaches in the Department of English at the University of Warwick. Gary Day did his doctorate on the early works of Charles Dickens. He teaches English and Drama in Brighton, and is a contributor to The Dickensian. Brian Docherty is a founder member of Lumiere Press. Having graduated from Middlesex Polytechnic, he now teaches in London and is completing research into American poetry. Michael J. Hayes teaches at the Lancashire Polytechnic. Besides American crime fiction, his research interests include Disraeli's early writings. Peter Humm teaches at Thames Polytechnic. He is one of the editors of Literature and History, and of the recent collection Popular Fictions: Essays in Literature and History. Stephen Knight is Associate Professor in English at the University of Sydney and has published essays and books on medieval and modern literature. His books include Form and Ideology and Arthurian Literature and Society. Odette L'Henry Evans is Principal Lecturer in Comparative Litera ture and French at the Polytechnic of North London. Christopher Rollason is a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the University of York. He is a lecturer in the Department of Anglo-American Studies, Coimbra University, Portugal. His pub- ix
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