| Hard-Boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories Contributor(s): Cassuto, Leonard (Author) |
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ISBN: 0231126905 ISBN-13: 9780231126908 Publisher: Columbia University Press OUR PRICE: $108.90 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: November 2008 Annotation: Leonard Cassuto's cultural history of the hard-boiled crime genre recovers the fascinating link between tough guys and sensitive women. The testosterone-saturated heroes of American crime fiction owe a debt to the nineteenth-century sentimental novel. Ranging from classics like "The Big Sleep" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" to neglected paperback gems, Leonard Cassuto chronicles his dialogue& mdash;centered on the power of sympathy& mdash;between self-consciously masculine American crime stories and American literature's most female genre. Cassuto moves smoothly from Sam Spade to Hannibal Lecter against the backdrop of the sweeping social changes of the twentieth century and ends with a startling link between today's serial killer stories and the domestic fictions of long ago. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Mystery & Detective Fiction - Literary Criticism | American - General - History | United States - 20th Century |
| Dewey: 813.087 |
| LCCN: 2008028238 |
| Physical Information: 0.8" H x 6.1" W x 9" (1.20 lbs) 344 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Leonard Cassuto's cultural history links the testosterone-saturated heroes of American crime stories to the sensitive women of the nineteenth-century sentimental novel. From classics like The Big Sleep and The Talented Mr. Ripley to neglected paperback gems, Cassuto chronicles the dialogue--centered on the power of sympathy--between these popular genres and the sweeping social changes of the twentieth century, ending with a surprising connection between today's serial killers and the domestic fictions of long ago. |
Contributor Bio(s): Cassuto, Leonard: - Leonard Cassuto is associate professor of English and American literature at Fordham University. |