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It Didn't Mean Anything: A Psychoanalytic Reading of American Detective Fiction
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It Didn't Mean Anything: A Psychoanalytic Reading of American Detective Fiction Paperback - 2008

by Alexander N. Howe


From the publisher

This critical study of American detective fiction examines the history and development of the detective genre through the lens of psychoanalysis. Applying the ideas of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, the author identifies and categorizes popular works according to the fictional protagonist's hysteria, obsessive neurosis, perversion or psychosis. The first chapter identifies several instances of hysteria within the fiction of two of the genre's pioneers, Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle. Chapter Two traces the development of the hard-boiled detective's code of honor through the works of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Mickey Spillane, identifying the often-paradoxical nature of this code and its origins in obsessive neurosis. Chapter Three analyzes the anti-detective fiction of Philip K. Dick in terms of paranoid psychosis, and the final chapter returns to the question of hysteria, taking up the female hard-boiled detectives of author Marcia Muller.

Details

  • Title It Didn't Mean Anything: A Psychoanalytic Reading of American Detective Fiction
  • Author Alexander N. Howe
  • Binding Paperback
  • Pages 296
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher McFarland & Company, Jefferson, NC USA
  • Date 2008-03
  • ISBN 9780786434541 / 0786434546
  • Weight 0.89 lbs (0.40 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.05 x 5.99 x 0.68 in (22.99 x 15.21 x 1.73 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Library of Congress subjects American fiction - 20th century - History, Detective and mystery stories, American -
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2008003190
  • Dewey Decimal Code 813.087

About the author

Alexander N. Howe is a professor of English at the University of the District of Columbia. His work focuses on genre fiction and film, and he has written on Raymond Chandler, Mickey Spillane, Louisa May Alcott, and Marcia Muller. He lives in Rockville, Maryland.
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It Didn't Mean Anything: A Psychoanalytic Reading of American Detective Fiction
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It Didn't Mean Anything: A Psychoanalytic Reading of American Detective Fiction

by Howe, Alexander N.

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Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers, 2008. Paperback. Very Good+/None. 2008 Our photos depict the actual book offered. Bright and clean pictorial softcover with yellow, uncreased spine. Interior is clean and unmarked. 8vo. Ships from our family-owned bookstore in the US. BOOK INFO: This critical study of American detective fiction examines the history and development of the detective genre through the lens of psychoanalysis. Applying the ideas of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, the author identifies and categorizes popular works according to the fictional protagonist's hysteria, obsessive neurosis, perversion or psychosis. The first chapter identifies several instances of hysteria within the fiction of two of the genre's pioneers, Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle. Chapter Two traces the development of the hard-boiled detective's code of honor through the works of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Mickey Spillane, identifying the often-paradoxical… Read More
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It Didn't Mean Anything: A Psychoanalytic Reading of American Detective Fiction
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

It Didn't Mean Anything: A Psychoanalytic Reading of American Detective Fiction

by Howe, Alexander N.

  • New
  • Paperback
Condition
New
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780786434541 / 0786434546
Quantity Available
1
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Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
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Description:
McFarland & Co Inc Pub, 2008. Paperback. New. 285 pages. 8.75x6.00x0.75 inches.
Item Price
$68.95
$12.70 shipping to USA