Alan N. Woolfolk is Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty Emeritus at Flagler College. He specializes in social, cultural and political theory and has been the recipient of numerous awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has published extensively on film, the sociology of culture, public intellectuals, the concept of nihilism and political sociology.

Combining a wide-ranging conspectus with numerous perceptive close readings, this important study provides an original overview of the origins and development of film noir as a morally subversive and transgressive form of psychological melodrama shaped by the response of the 'noir generation' to the profound social and historical crises of 1914–45.

• Foreword by R. Barton PalmerAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. The Disenchantment and Despair of the Noir Generation2. The Collapse of Liberal Democratic Ideals3. The Impossible Charisma of the Dandy4. Case Studies of the Impoverished American Ego5. The Classic Noir Imaginary6. The Triumph of Transgressive Mimesis in Hitchcock7. The Dark History of the Noir Generation in Europe8. Postwar Disenchantment and Enchantment in Paris and London9. Phantoms of the Neo-Noir Imaginary10. The Death of Noir’s Divided Self in Science Fiction11. Postmodern Dark Humor Begins12. The Emergence of the Neo-Noir Cult of Eroticism13. The Neo-Noir Return of the Western Cult of ViolenceConcluding Thoughts: Defining Transgression DownwardBibliography

Alan N. Woolfolk is Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty Emeritus at Flagler College. He specializes in social, cultural and political theory and has been the recipient of numerous awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has published extensively on film, the sociology of culture, public intellectuals, the concept of nihilism and political sociology.

Combining a wide-ranging conspectus with numerous perceptive close readings, this important study provides an original overview of the origins and development of film noir as a morally subversive and transgressive form of psychological melodrama shaped by the response of the 'noir generation' to the profound social and historical crises of 1914–45.

• Foreword by R. Barton PalmerAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. The Disenchantment and Despair of the Noir Generation2. The Collapse of Liberal Democratic Ideals3. The Impossible Charisma of the Dandy4. Case Studies of the Impoverished American Ego5. The Classic Noir Imaginary6. The Triumph of Transgressive Mimesis in Hitchcock7. The Dark History of the Noir Generation in Europe8. Postwar Disenchantment and Enchantment in Paris and London9. Phantoms of the Neo-Noir Imaginary10. The Death of Noir’s Divided Self in Science Fiction11. Postmodern Dark Humor Begins12. The Emergence of the Neo-Noir Cult of Eroticism13. The Neo-Noir Return of the Western Cult of ViolenceConcluding Thoughts: Defining Transgression DownwardBibliography

Alan N. Woolfolk is Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty Emeritus at Flagler College. He specializes in social, cultural and political theory and has been the recipient of numerous awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has published extensively on film, the sociology of culture, public intellectuals, the concept of nihilism and political sociology.

Combining a wide-ranging conspectus with numerous perceptive close readings, this important study provides an original overview of the origins and development of film noir as a morally subversive and transgressive form of psychological melodrama shaped by the response of the 'noir generation' to the profound social and historical crises of 1914–45.

• Foreword by R. Barton PalmerAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. The Disenchantment and Despair of the Noir Generation2. The Collapse of Liberal Democratic Ideals3. The Impossible Charisma of the Dandy4. Case Studies of the Impoverished American Ego5. The Classic Noir Imaginary6. The Triumph of Transgressive Mimesis in Hitchcock7. The Dark History of the Noir Generation in Europe8. Postwar Disenchantment and Enchantment in Paris and London9. Phantoms of the Neo-Noir Imaginary10. The Death of Noir’s Divided Self in Science Fiction11. Postmodern Dark Humor Begins12. The Emergence of the Neo-Noir Cult of Eroticism13. The Neo-Noir Return of the Western Cult of ViolenceConcluding Thoughts: Defining Transgression DownwardBibliography