Detecting the South in fiction, film & television

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Detecting the South in fiction, film & television

edited by Deborah E. Barker & Theresa Starkey

（Southern literary studies）

Louisiana State University Press, c2019

  • : cloth

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Detecting the South in fiction, film and television

Available at  / 2 libraries

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Note

Bibliography: p. 317-337

Includes index

Summary on website of LSU Press: "The mean streets that tough, trench-coated detectives travel are so often associated with urban settings--typically New York or Los Angeles--that audiences can easily overlook the presence of the American South in crime fiction and film noir. Recent years have witnessed a growth in the production and popularity of southern noir and detective narratives, with works such as James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels and the first season of True Detective attesting to the powerful impact of the southern imaginary on the genre

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Detecting the South in Fiction, Film, & Television, edited by Deborah E. Barker and Theresa Starkey, examines the often-overlooked and undervalued impact of the U.S. South on the origins and development of the detective genre and film noir. This wide-ranging collection engages with ongoing discussions about genre, gender, social justice, critical race theory, popular culture, cinema, and mass media. Focusing on the South, these essays uncover three frequently interrelated themes: the acknowledgment of race as it relates to slavery, segregation, and discrimination; the role of land as a source of income, an ecologically threatened space, or a place of seclusion; and the continued presence of the southern gothic in recurring elements such as dilapidated plantation houses, swamps, family secrets, and the occult. Twenty-two critical essays probe how southern detective narratives intersect with popular genre forms such as neo-noir, hard-boiled fiction, the dark thriller, suburban noir, amateur sleuths, journalist detectives, and television police procedurals. Alongside essays by scholars, Detecting the South in Fiction, Film, and Television presents pieces by authors of detective and crime fiction, including Megan Abbott and Ace Atkins, who address the extent to which the South and its artistic traditions influenced their own works. By considering the diversity of authors and characters associated with the genre, this accessible collection provides an overdue examination of the historical, political, and aesthetic contexts out of which the southern detective narrative emerged and continues to evolve.

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