Crime Novels : : American Noir of the 1950S.

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"Robert Polito selected the contents and wrote the notes for this volume"--5th prelim. p.
The killer inside me / Jim Thompson -- The talented Mr. Ripley / Patricia Highsmith -- Pick-up / Charles Willeford -- Down there / David Goodis -- The real cool killers / Chester Himes.
This adventurous volume, with its companion devoted to the 1930s and 40s, presents a rich vein of modern American writing too often neglected in mainstream literary histories. Evolving out of the terse and violent hardboiled style of the pulp magazines, noir fiction expanded over the decades into a varied and innovative body of writing. Tapping deep roots in the American literary imagination, the novels in this volume explore themes of crime, guilt, deception, obsessive passion, murder, and the disintegrating psyche. With visionary and often subversive force, they create a dark and violent mythology out of the most commonplace elements of modern life. The raw power of their vernacular style has profoundly influenced contemporary American culture and writing. Far from formulaic, they are ambitious works which bend the rules of genre fiction to their often experimental purposes.
Contents: Killer inside me.

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fun read submitted by shanny1974 on June 16, 2013, 3:45pm This is a good sampling of noir books from the 1950's. If you are looking for some potential new authors, then this is a good place to start.