New Orleans Noir: The Classics - Brossura

Brossura

ISBN 10: 161775384X ISBN 13: 9781617753848

Casa editrice: Akashic Books, 2016

Riassunto

"One installment of noir stories from New Orleans wasn't enough, so Akashic and editor Julie Smith came back with a follow-up focusing on the 'classics.' That means you'll get a healthy portion of noir stories from across New Orleans written by the likes of Tennessee Williams and Eudora Welty, along with more modern offerings from Poppy Z. Brite, Ace Atkins, and Maurice Carlos Ruffin."
--CrimeReads, included in "New Orleans: The Crime Fiction of Carnival"

"[An] irresistible sequel to Smith's New Orleans Noir....Anyone who knows New Orleans even slightly will relish revisiting the city in story after story. For anyone who has never been to New Orleans, this is a great introduction to its neighborhoods and history."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred review

"Ten years after the publication of the original New Orleans Noir, Akashic's 'Noir' series returns with a follow-up....Each entry is strong, but the collection is worth reading alone for Poppy Z. Brite's 'Mussolini and the Axeman's Jazz,' a delirious and brutal ghost story....Strongly recommended for fans of the Akashic anthologies and Hard Case Crime mysteries and lovers of New Orleans fiction. Devotees of Southern gothic fiction (e.g., the works of Flannery O'Connor and Tom Franklin.) will also find much to enjoy."
--Library Journal, Starred review

"Smith, who edited Akashic's original New Orleans Noir (2007), goes back for a second trip to the Big Easy."
--Kirkus Reviews

"A riveting read."
--Back to Books

"Eighteen diverse stories...capture the feeling of this fascinating city. New Orleans Noir: The Classics embraces the city's rich literature and spans two centuries, from the pre-Civil War era to post-Katrina."
--Underrated Reads

"This anthology really has the feel of New Orleans....I enjoyed this batch of stories. Good ones all the way through. Give it a try."
--Journey of a Bookseller

Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each volume comprises stories set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city.

Classic reprints from: James Lee Burke, Armand Lanusse, Grace King, Kate Chopin, O. Henry, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, Shirley Ann Grau, John William Corrington, Tom Dent, Ellen Gilchrist, Valerie Martin, O'Neil De Noux, John Biguenet, Poppy Z. Brite, Nevada Barr, Ace Atkins, and Maurice Carlos Ruffin.

From the introduction by Julie Smith:

"A glittering constellation of writers has passed through New Orleans--including Mark Twain, Sherwood Anderson, O. Henry, and even Walt Whitman, to name some of the not-so-usual suspects. Then there are the ones whose sojourns here are better known, the ones on whom we pride ourselves, such as Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Ellen Gilchrist, and James Lee Burke.

It was an anthologist's feast--just about everybody who came to New Orleans wrote about it. But there were surprises as well...

If you're from New Orleans, the neighborhood theme will resonate like Tibetan temple bells. And yet, surely every city has similar hoods, similar behavior patterns, similar travails--and has had them forever. 'Indeed,' wrote Voltaire, 'history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.'"

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull?autore

Julie Smith is an Edgar Award winner for best novel, and the author of four mystery series set in New Orleans and San Francisco. A former journalist, she has worked for newspapers in both those cities and now lives in New Orleans. She is the owner of booksBnimble, which publishes mysteries and other quality works digitally. In 2007 Smith edited the best-selling anthology New Orleans Noir for Akashic Books.

Estratto. © Ristampato con autorizzazione. Tutti i diritti riservati.

New Orleans Noir

The Classics

By Julie Smith

Akashic Books

Copyright © 2016 Akashic Books
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-61775-384-8

Contents

Introduction, 11, 
PART I: THE AWAKENING, 
Armand Lanusse A Marriage of Conscience St. Louis Cathedral 1843, 19, 
Grace King The Little Convent Girl The River 1893, 25, 
Kate Chopin The Story of an Hour Bayou St. John 1894, 35, 
O. Henry Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking French Quarter 1899, 39, 
PART II: SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH, 
Eudora Welty The Purple Hat Upper Quarter 1941, 61, 
Tennessee Williams Desire and the Black Masseur Tremé 1948, 70, 
Shirley Ann Grau Miss Yellow Eyes Pigeon Town 1955, 80, 
John William Corrington Pleadings Uptown 1976, 116, 
Tom Dent Ritual Murder Courthouse 1978, 159, 
PART III: THE THANATOS SYNDROME, 
Ellen Gilchrist Rich Garden District 1978, 177, 
Valerie Martin Spats New Orleans East 1988, 201, 
O'Neil De Noux The Man with Moon Hands Tchoupitoulas and Jackson 1993, 212, 
John Biguenet Rose Gentilly 1999, 221, 
Poppy Z. Brite Mussolini and the Axeman's Jazz Basin Street 1995, 224, 
Nevada Barr GDMFSOB Versailles Boulevard 2006, 251, 
James Lee Burke Jesus Out to Sea Ninth Ward 2006, 258, 
Ace Atkins Last Fair Deal Gone Down Warehouse District 2010, 269, 
Maurice Carlos Ruffin Pie Man Central City 2012, 293, 
Acknowledgments, 310, 
About the Contributors, 312, 
Permissions, 316, 

INTRODUCTION

The Many Ways It Can All Go Away

Just after Hurricane Katrina, when New Orleans was at its most noir moment (and so were we all), I was invited by Akashic Books to put together a volume of original stories for the first New Orleans Noir. It perfectly suited all our moods down here, which might account for the extremely high quality of the stories the authors produced. The collection has remained so popular that, almost ten years later, we're coming back for The Classics, reprinted stories by some of the finest writers who ever walked the rough-and-tumble streets of the City that Care Forgot — a pretty funny sobriquet when you consider what they wrote.

Listen to a character herein: "He had it made. Then it all went away ... it always goes away. If you know anything, you know that." So wrote John William Corrington in "Pleadings," one of the stories collected herein. It's one of my favorite quotes about the noir tradition. Maybe it doesn't apply to everyone in a noir tale, or even always to the protagonist, but you can bet it perfectly describes someone's fate.

With one exception, each of these stories reflects that scenario in some way or other — in every case there's a terrible loss, sometimes an unbearable loss. Much like in our lives. Most of us, I hope, will deal with our losses in less murderous, self-destructive, and downright horrific ways, but stories like this, even as they make us wince, let us identify with others who've been there.

Sometimes you can practically feel the author's own losses, his or her own desires for revenge or oblivion. And what a magnificent array of authors to choose from! It was a thrill to stroll through two centuries of stories written in a city as rich as delta dirt in literary tradition.

A glittering constellation of writers has passed through New Orleans — including Mark Twain, Sherwood Anderson, O. Henry, and even Walt Whitman, to name some of the not-so-usual suspects. Then there are the ones whose sojourns here are better known, the ones on who

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Akashic Books
• Data di pubblicazione: 2016
• ISBN 10: 161775384X
• ISBN 13: 9781617753848
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Lingua: Inglese
• Numero di pagine: 309
• Redattore: Smith Julie
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile