The American Thriller: Generic Innovation and Social Change in the 1970s (Crime Files)

What is the American Thriller? Has it developed over time? What was it like in the past? This is a book about thrillers and gaining knowledge of what American thrillers were like in a specific period—the 1970s. Analyzing '70s texts about crime, police, detectives, corruption, paranoia and revenge, The American Thriller aims to open the debate on genre in light of audience theory, literary history, and the place of popular fiction at the moment of its production. The American Thriller Developed In A Distinctive Way In The 1970s, Generating Exciting And Interesting Narratives About Crime, Police, Detectives, Corruption, Paranoia And Revenge. At A Time When American Political Life Seemed To Be The Very Stuff Of Thrillers, The Genre Underwent A Major Transformation. But How Can We Know How These New Thrillers Were Experienced In The Period? How Can We Gain A Sense Of The Ways In Which They Were Read By Contemporary Audiences? This Book Seeks To Address These Questions By Looking At Films, Tv Programmes And Print Fiction From The 1970s By Focusing On Numerous Thrillers, Including Dirty Harry, Death Wish, Marathon Man, Shaft, Kojak, The Friends Of Eddie Coyle, Chinatown And All The President's Men, It Explores The Way That The Reading Of Thrillers Might Be Bound Up In Commonplace - But Often Neglected - Relations.--jacket. Firing The Generic Canon -- Reading The Space Of The 1970s -- 'the Luxury To Worry About Justice': Hard-boiled Style And Heroism -- What Do We 'believe' When We 'see'? Views Of Crime -- 'keeping That Sixth Ball In The Air': The Police -- Sambos Or Superspades? -- Just Because You're Paranoid It Doesn't Mean They're Not Out To Get You -- 'thank God For The Rain ... ': Revenge From Dirty Harry To The Exterminator. Paul Cobley. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 219-236) And Index. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 9 Introduction......Page 12 1 Firing the Generic Canon......Page 26 2 Reading the Space of the Seventies......Page 45 3 "The Luxury to Worry about Justice": Hard-boiled Style and Heroism......Page 66 4 What Do We "Believe" When We "See"? Views of Crime......Page 89 5 "Keeping That Sixth Ball in the Air": The Police......Page 111 6 Sambos or Superspades?......Page 134 7 Just Because You're Paranoid It Doesn't Mean They're Not Out to Get You......Page 157 8 "Thank God for the Rain...": Revenge From Dirty Harry to The Exterminator......Page 178 Conclusion......Page 200 Furthur Reading......Page 209 Notes......Page 219 References......Page 230 Index......Page 248 What is the American thriller? Has it developed over time? What was it like in the past? This is a book about thrillers and gaining knowledge of what American thrillers were like in a specific period - the 1970s. Analysing seventies texts about crime, police, detectives, corruption, paranoia and revenge, The American Thriller aims to open debates on genre in the light of audience theory, literary history and the place of popular fiction at the moment of its production. What is the American thriller? Has it developed over time? What was it like in the past? This is a book about thrillers and gaining knowledge of what American thrillers were like in a specific period - the 1970s. Analyzing 70s texts about crime, police, detectives, corruption, paranoia and revenge, this study aims to open debates on the genre in the light of audience theory, literary history and the place of popular fiction at the moment of its production