Mikkel Krause Frantzen - Böcker

Discover the untold story of the financial thriller, a genre pioneered by Canadian banker-turned-author Paul Erdman from a Swiss prison cell. Starting with the publication of The Billion Dollar Sure Thing in 1973, this book explores the genre's evolution as a popular and even vulgar genre of financialisation, characterised by volatile plots centred on currency speculation where the central mystery is money, not murder. By contextualising the rise of financial thrillers within the dramatic events of the 1970s, such as the abolition of the Bretton Woods system and the oil crises, this book illustrates how a genre found the world of finance during a particular historical moment, but also how the world of finance found its genre. This compelling narrative connects the past to our present financial landscape, making it essential for anyone interested in the intersection of economic, literary and cultural history.

Discover the untold story of the financial thriller, a genre pioneered by Canadian banker-turned-author Paul Erdman from a Swiss prison cell. Starting with the publication of The Billion Dollar Sure Thing in 1973, this book explores the genre’s evolution as a popular and even vulgar genre of financialisation, characterised by volatile plots centred on currency speculation where the central mystery is money, not murder. By contextualising the rise of financial thrillers within the dramatic events of the 1970s, such as the abolition of the Bretton Woods system and the oil crises, this book illustrates how a genre found the world of finance during a particular historical moment, but also how the world of finance found its genre. This compelling narrative connects the past to our present financial landscape, making it essential for anyone interested in the intersection of economic, literary and cultural history.

Using examples from art and literature, Frantzen explores the social, political and economic implications of both real and imagined depression. Is feeling blue a symptom of the death of progress? Was the suicide of David Foster Wallace a proverbial canary in a coal mine? Margaret Thatcher once declared that there is no alternative to the social order that we now reside within. Have we accepted her slogan as a fact, and is that why so many are on Prozac and other anti-depressants? Frantzen examines the works of Michel Houellebecq, Claire Fontaine and David Foster Wallace as he seeks out an answer and a way to formulate a new future oriented left movement.