American Crime Fiction : A Cultural History of Nobrow Literature As Art

"Peter Swirski looks at American crime fiction as an artform that expresses and reflects the social and aesthetic values of its authors and readers. As such he documents the manifold ways in which such authorship and readership are a matter of informed literary choice and not of cultural brainwashing or declining literary standards. Asking, in effect, a series of questions about the nature of genre fiction as art, successive chapters look at American crime writers whose careers throw light on the hazards and rewards of nobrow traffic between popular forms and highbrow aesthetics: Dashiell Hammett, John Grisham, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Chandler, Ed McBain, Nelson DeMille, and F. Scott Fitzgerald"--Page 4 of cover This book looks at American crime fiction as an artform that expresses and reflects the social and aesthetic values of its authors and readers. As such it documents the manifold ways in which such authorship and readership are a matter of informed literary choice and not of cultural brainwashing or declining literary standards. Asking, in effect, a series of questions about the nature of genre fiction as art, successive chapters look at American crime writers whose careers throw light on the hazards and rewards of nobrow traffic between popular forms and highbrow aesthetics: Dashiell Hammett, John Grisham, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Chandler, Ed McBain, Nelson DeMille, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Nobrow: Contents and Discontents....Pages 1-28 Briefcases for Hire: Dashiell Hammett and John Grisham....Pages 29-60 Boilerplate Potboilers: William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway....Pages 61-91 The Not So Simple Art of Murder: Raymond Chandler....Pages 93-122 The Urban Procedural: Ed McBain....Pages 123-154 Take Two: Nelson DeMille and F. Scott Fitzgerald....Pages 155-184 Back Matter....Pages 185-222 1. Nobrow : Contents And Discontents -- 2. Briefcases For Hire: Dashiell Hammett And John Grisham -- 3. Boilerplate Potboilers: William Faulkner And Ernest Hemingway -- 4. The Not So Simple Art Of Murder: Raymond Chandler -- 5. The Urban Procedural: Ed Mcbain -- 6. Take Two: Nelson Demille And F. Scott Fitzgerald. Peter Swirski. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 185-210) And Index.