Noir Fiction and Film - Diversions and Misdirections

A study of detective and crime fiction and film from the 1920s to the present day that challenges the commonplace perception that narratives depend heavily on plot for their effects.

List of contents

• Prologue: Procrastinating Plots and Commonplace Pleasures


• 1: Hard-Boiled Intimations


• 2: Descriptive Digressions


• 3: Dialogue Scaffoldings


• 4: Lost Identities


• 5: Sequel Reminders


• 6: Cinematic Resolutions


• 7: Beyond Authenticity


• Epilogue: "If They Had Been Better"


• Bibliography

About the author

Lee Clark Mitchell is Holmes Professor of Belles-Lettres at Princeton University, where he has served as Chair of the English Department and Director of the Program in American Studies. He teaches courses in American literature and film, with recent essays focusing on Cormac McCarthy, John Williams, the Coen brothers, and Edith Wharton. His recent books include Mere Reading: The Poetics of Wonder in Modern American Novels (Bloomsbury, 2017), Late Westerns: The Persistence of a Genre (Nebraska, 2018), and More Time: Contemporary Short Stories and Late Styles (Oxford, 2018).

Summary

A study of detective and crime fiction and film from the 1920s to the present day that challenges the commonplace perception that narratives depend heavily on plot for their effects.

Additional text

With some interesting observations and a huge collection of data about genres in the book under discussion here, there are some good and fresh points concerning style, method and procedure, even when hard-boiled fiction and films noir are reduced to their most basic configurations.

Product details

• Authors: Lee Clark Mitchell, Lee Clark (Holmes Professor of Belles-Le Mitchell, Lee Clark (Holmes Professor of Belles-Lettres Mitchell
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.11.2021
• EAN: 9780192844767
• ISBN: 978-0-19-284476-7
• No. of pages: 254
• Subjects: Fiction > Comic, cartoon, humour, satire; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century, PERFORMING ARTS / Film / Genres / General, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Film: styles & genres, Film: styles and genres, LITERARY CRITICISM / Novel as Form