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.
"Leonard Cassuto's thesis is both original and intriguing, and the case he makes for it well-constructed and convincing. I'm looking at crime fiction and film differently since I read this book. Highly recommended." -- S.J. Rozan, Edgar Award-winning novelist and author of In This Rain "Leonard Cassuto's Hard-Boiled Sentimentality opens new possibilities of reading for students of popular crime fiction. A superb work of literary and cultural history, the book captures and holds the reader with fresh insights on every page." -- Alan Trachtenberg, Yale University "James Ellroy used to claim his books were for the whole family& mdash;if the name of your family is Manson. Ellroy's quip encircles Leonard Cassuto's study of the American crime novel and American domesticity-part noose, part necklace& mdash;as Cassuto tracks and fragments the traditional oppositions of hard-boiled versus sentimental with wit, daring, and originality." -- Robert Polito, author of Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson and editor of Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s and Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s " Hard-Boiled Sentimentality is an ambitious and wide-ranging book, with the potential to revise our understanding of not only the detective genre but also, more broadly, the afterlife of sentimentalism. " -- Glenn Hendler, Fordham University "Cassuto has put together a captivating body of material, a groundbreaking approach, top-drawer scholarly skills and instincts, and a splendid writing style." -- Catherine Nickerson, author of Web of Iniquity: Early Detective Fiction by American Women "Leonard Cassuto adds an encyclopedic grasp of the developmental history of crime literature, and he discusses it with refreshing clarity. Hard-Boiled Sentimentality should be widely read and will almost certainly become definitive." -- Sean McCann, Wesleyan University, author of Gumshoe America: Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction and the Rise and Fall of New Deal Liberalism "A clear-eyed, original, and important study that I found endlessly fascinating. Hard-Boiled Sentimentality is also as well-written and compelling as a good crime novel." -- Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of Paranoia "Leonard Cassuto convincingly presents crime fiction as American family culture's truest mirror throughout the decades. Hard-Boiled Sentimentality is a non-fiction epic that reads like the best of genre fiction, tracing the bloodlines of crime fiction from Sam Spade to Hannibal Lecter. Cassuto's scholarship is impeccable; his narrative voice magnetic. A must-read for every student of genre fiction and the go-to source for the evolutionary history of noir." -- Julia Spencer-Fleming, author of I Shall Not Want
About the Author
Leonard Cassuto is professor of English at Fordham University and an award-winning journalist whose writing has appeared in academic journals and popular periodicals ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Salon.com. He is the author of The Inhuman Race: The Racial Grotesque in American Literature and Culture and the general editor of the forthcoming Cambridge History of the American Novel.
Reviews
This is an erudite, illuminating and highly readable study Journal of American Studies Cassuto has profitably plowed new ground in this study. It's certain to become an essential document for undersatnding crime fiction's inner workings. African American Review
Awards
Winner of Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2009.
Book Information
ISBN 9780231126915
Author Leonard Cassuto
Format Paperback
Page Count 344
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press
"Leonard Cassuto's thesis is both original and intriguing, and the case he makes for it well-constructed and convincing. I'm looking at crime fiction and film differently since I read this book. Highly recommended." -- S.J. Rozan, Edgar Award-winning novelist and author of In This Rain "Leonard Cassuto's Hard-Boiled Sentimentality opens new possibilities of reading for students of popular crime fiction. A superb work of literary and cultural history, the book captures and holds the reader with fresh insights on every page." -- Alan Trachtenberg, Yale University "James Ellroy used to claim his books were for the whole family& mdash;if the name of your family is Manson. Ellroy's quip encircles Leonard Cassuto's study of the American crime novel and American domesticity-part noose, part necklace& mdash;as Cassuto tracks and fragments the traditional oppositions of hard-boiled versus sentimental with wit, daring, and originality." -- Robert Polito, author of Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson and editor of Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s and Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s " Hard-Boiled Sentimentality is an ambitious and wide-ranging book, with the potential to revise our understanding of not only the detective genre but also, more broadly, the afterlife of sentimentalism. " -- Glenn Hendler, Fordham University "Cassuto has put together a captivating body of material, a groundbreaking approach, top-drawer scholarly skills and instincts, and a splendid writing style." -- Catherine Nickerson, author of Web of Iniquity: Early Detective Fiction by American Women "Leonard Cassuto adds an encyclopedic grasp of the developmental history of crime literature, and he discusses it with refreshing clarity. Hard-Boiled Sentimentality should be widely read and will almost certainly become definitive." -- Sean McCann, Wesleyan University, author of Gumshoe America: Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction and the Rise and Fall of New Deal Liberalism "A clear-eyed, original, and important study that I found endlessly fascinating. Hard-Boiled Sentimentality is also as well-written and compelling as a good crime novel." -- Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of Paranoia "Leonard Cassuto convincingly presents crime fiction as American family culture's truest mirror throughout the decades. Hard-Boiled Sentimentality is a non-fiction epic that reads like the best of genre fiction, tracing the bloodlines of crime fiction from Sam Spade to Hannibal Lecter. Cassuto's scholarship is impeccable; his narrative voice magnetic. A must-read for every student of genre fiction and the go-to source for the evolutionary history of noir." -- Julia Spencer-Fleming, author of I Shall Not Want
About the Author
Leonard Cassuto is professor of English at Fordham University and an award-winning journalist whose writing has appeared in academic journals and popular periodicals ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Salon.com. He is the author of The Inhuman Race: The Racial Grotesque in American Literature and Culture and the general editor of the forthcoming Cambridge History of the American Novel.
Reviews
This is an erudite, illuminating and highly readable study Journal of American Studies Cassuto has profitably plowed new ground in this study. It's certain to become an essential document for undersatnding crime fiction's inner workings. African American Review
Awards
Winner of Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2009.
Book Information
ISBN 9780231126915
Author Leonard Cassuto
Format Paperback
Page Count 344
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press
