America noir : underground writers and filmmakers of the postwar era / David Cochran.
2000
PS374.P63 C63 2000 (Mapit)
Available at General Collection
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Details
Title
America noir : underground writers and filmmakers of the postwar era / David Cochran.
Author
Cochran, David, 1961-
ISBN
1560988134 (alk. paper)
9781560988137 (alk. paper)
9781588342188 (pbk.)
1588342182 (pbk.)
9781560989356
1560989351
9781560988137 (alk. paper)
9781588342188 (pbk.)
1588342182 (pbk.)
9781560989356
1560989351
Imprint
Washington [D.C.] : Smithsonian Institution Press, ©2000.
Language
English
Description
xiii, 280 pages ; 24 cm
Call Number
PS374.P63 C63 2000
Dewey Decimal Classification
813/.5409
Summary
"In America Noir David Cochran details how ten writers and filmmakers probed the Cold War's cultural contradictions and indirectly challenged its social pieties: the superiority of American democracy, the benevolence of free enterprise, and the sanctity of the suburban family." "Cochran argues that these artists pioneered a detached, ironic sensibility in fictions that radically juxtaposed cultural references and blurred the distinctions between "high" and "low" art. Their works would play a crucial role in the emergence of not only a 1960s counterculture but also the postmodernism of a later era."--Jacket.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-273) and index.
Available Note
Also issued online.
Available in Other Form
America noir.
Record Appears in
On-Campus Resources > Books
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Table of Contents
Preface: Mapping the underground culture
Introduction: Within the shell of the old: the creation of the Cold War consensus and the emergence of the underground culture
Part One. The killer inside me: roman noir authors. Slipping deeper into hell: Jim Thompson's theology of absurdity
"It's always for nothing": the paperback worldview of Charles Willeford
Part Two. Progress and its discontents: Science fiction and fantasy authors. "I'm being ironic": imperialism, mass culture, and the fantastic world of Ray Bradbury
The devil and Charles Beaumont
Part Three. Outside looking in: Minority artists. "So much nonsense must make sense": the black vision of Chester Himes
"Some torture that perversely eased": Patricia Highsmith and the everyday schizophrenia of American life
Part Four. Little shop of horrors: Independent filmmakers. "Lots of socko": the independent cinematic vision of Samuel Fuller
Roger Corman's low-budget modernism
Part Five. Cracks in the consensus: Liberal artists. Richard Condon and the paranoid surreal style in American politics
Another dimension: Rod Serling, consensus liberalism, and The Twilight Zone
Conclusion: the emancipation of dissonance.
Introduction: Within the shell of the old: the creation of the Cold War consensus and the emergence of the underground culture
Part One. The killer inside me: roman noir authors. Slipping deeper into hell: Jim Thompson's theology of absurdity
"It's always for nothing": the paperback worldview of Charles Willeford
Part Two. Progress and its discontents: Science fiction and fantasy authors. "I'm being ironic": imperialism, mass culture, and the fantastic world of Ray Bradbury
The devil and Charles Beaumont
Part Three. Outside looking in: Minority artists. "So much nonsense must make sense": the black vision of Chester Himes
"Some torture that perversely eased": Patricia Highsmith and the everyday schizophrenia of American life
Part Four. Little shop of horrors: Independent filmmakers. "Lots of socko": the independent cinematic vision of Samuel Fuller
Roger Corman's low-budget modernism
Part Five. Cracks in the consensus: Liberal artists. Richard Condon and the paranoid surreal style in American politics
Another dimension: Rod Serling, consensus liberalism, and The Twilight Zone
Conclusion: the emancipation of dissonance.