RARA-AVIS: Book Title - American Noir

From: T. Kent Morgan ( tkmorgan@shaw.ca)
Date: 23 Oct 2007


Please note that I added book title to the subject line in order not to turn off people who may be tired of that word "noir." Yesterday while in the library I accidentally came across a book with the title American Noir and couldn't resist pulling it off the shelf and bringing it home. I just checked the archives to see if it had ever been mentioned and all I could find was a couple of list members asking about it in 2000. They got no response.

The book is by David Cochran, who taught history and government at Shawnee Community College in Illinois. It's subtitled Underground Writers and Filmakers of the Postwar Era. Part one covers Roman Noir Authors with emphasis on Jim Thompson and Charles Willeford. Part two is titled Progess and its Discontents: Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors. Ray Bradbury and Charles Beaumont are featured. Part three is titled Outside Looking In: Minority Artists (Chester Himes and Patricia Highsmith). Part four looks at independent filmmakers and Samuel Fuller and Roger Corman are featured. The final part is titled Cracks in the Consensus: Liberal Artists (Richard Condon and Rod Serling).

Looks to me like a book that would interest a number of list members. It was published by Smithsonian Institute Press in 2000.

Kent Morgan



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 23 Oct 2007 EDT