American Noir : Underground Writers and Filmmakers of the Postwar Era

by Cochran, David

• ISBN13: 9781560988137
• ISBN10: 1560988134
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-05-01
• Publisher: Harpercollins

Author Biography

David Cochran teaches history and government at Shawnee (Illinois) Community College.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Preface: Mapping the Underground Culture	ix
Introduction: Within the Shell of the Old: The Creation of the Cold War Consensus and the Emergence of the Underground Culture	1	(16)
Part One. The Killer inside Me: Roman Noir Authors	17	(36)
Slipping Deeper into Hell: Jim Thompson's Theology of Absurdity	19	(20)
``It's Always for Nothing'': The Paperback Worldview of Charles Willeford	39	(14)
Part Two. Progress and its Discontents: Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors	53	(36)
``I'm Being Ironic'': Imperialism, Mass Culture, and the Fantastic World of Ray Bradbury	55	(18)
The Devil and Charles Beaumont	73	(16)
Part Three: Outside Looking In: Minority Artists	89	(42)
``So Much Nonsense Must Make Sense'': The Black Vision of Chester Himes	91	(23)
``Some Torture That Perversely Eased'': Patricia Highsmith and the Everyday Schizophrenia of American Life	114	(17)
Part Four. Little Shop of Horrors: Independent Filmmakers	131	(42)
``Lots of Socko'': The Independent Cinematic Vision of Samuel Fuller	133	(18)
Roger Corman's Low-Budget Modernism	151	(22)
Part Five. Cracks in the Consensus: Liberal Artists	173	(42)
Richard Condon and the Paranoid Surreal Style in American Politics	175	(19)
Another Dimension: Rod Serling, Consensus Liberalism, and The Twilight Zone	194	(21)
Conclusion: The Emancipation of Dissonance	215	(8)
Notes	223	(38)
Bibliography	261	(14)
Index	275