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The Cambridge Companion to American Crime Fiction (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

The Cambridge Companion to American Crime Fiction (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

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Cambridge University Press, 7/8/2010
EAN 9780521199377, ISBN10: 0521199379

Hardcover, 208 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm
Language: English

From the execution sermons of the Colonial era to television programs like The Wire and The Sopranos, crime writing has played an important role in American culture. Its ability to register fear, desire and anxiety has made it a popular genre with a wide audience. These new essays, written for students as well as readers of crime fiction, demonstrate the very best in contemporary scholarship and challenge long-established notions of the development of the detective novel. Each chapter covers a sub-genre, from 'true crime' to hard-boiled novels, illustrating the ways in which 'popular' and 'high' literary genres influence and shape each other. With a chronology and guide to further reading, this Companion is a helpful guide for students of American literature and readers of crime fiction.

Notes on contributors
1. Introduction Catherine Ross Nickerson
2. Early crime writing Sara Crosby
3. Poe and the origins of detective fiction Stephen Rachman
4. Women writers before 1960 Catherine Ross Nickerson
5. The hard-boiled novel Sean McCann
6. The American Roman Noir Andrew Pepper
7. Teenage detectives and teenage delinquents Ilana Nash
8. The American spy novel David Seed
9. Police procedurals in literature and on television Eddy Von Mueller
10. Mafia stories and the US gangster Fred L. Gardaphe
11. True crime Laura Browder
12. Race and American crime fiction Maureen T. Reddy
13. Feminist crime fiction Margaret Kinsman
14. Crime and post-modern fiction Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
American crime fiction
a chronology
Guide to reading
Index.