How Long to Read The American Roman Noir

How Long Does it Take to Read The American Roman Noir?

It takes the average reader 5 hours and 40 minutes to read The American Roman Noir by William Marling

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

In The American Roman Noir, William Marling reads classic hard-boiled fiction and film in the contexts of narrative theories and American social and cultural history. His search for the origins of the dark narratives that emerged during the 1920s and 1930s leads to a sweeping critique of Jazz-Age and Depression-era culture. Integrating economic history, biography, consumer product design, narrative analysis, and film scholarship, Marling makes new connections between events of the 1920s and 1930s and the modes, styles, and genres of their representation. At the center of Marling's approach is the concept of "prodigality": how narrative represents having, and having had, too much. Never before in the country, he argues, did wealth impinge on the national conscience as in the 1920s, and never was such conscience so sharply rebuked as in the 1930s. What, asks Marling, were the paradigms that explained accumulation and windfall, waste and failure? Marling first establishes a theoretical and historical context for the notion of prodigality. Among the topics he discusses are such watershed events as the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti and the premiere of the first sound movie, The Jazz Singer; technology's alteration of Americans' perceptive and figurative habits; and the shift from synecdochical to metonymical values entailed by a consumer society. Marling then considers six noir classics, relating them to their authors' own lives and to the milieu of prodigality that produced them and which they sought to explain: Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest and The Maltese Falcon, James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity, and Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep and Farewell My Lovely. Reading these narratives first as novels, then as films, Marling shows how they employed the prodigality fabula's variations and ancillary value systems to help Americans adapt--for better or worse--to a society driven by economic and technological forces beyond their control.

How long is The American Roman Noir?

The American Roman Noir by William Marling is 329 pages long, and a total of 85,211 words.

This makes it 111% the length of the average book. It also has 104% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read The American Roman Noir Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 7 hours and 45 minutes to read The American Roman Noir aloud.

What Reading Level is The American Roman Noir?

The American Roman Noir is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy The American Roman Noir?

The American Roman Noir by William Marling is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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