The Power of Horace McCoy’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Essay

The Power of Horace McCoys They Shoot Horses, Dont They?Professors chin-wag The premise of this essay is to play up the capacity of Noir literature to defy Modernist values and pioneer later avant-garde literary movements. This student produced a focused, organized, well back up essay.Nearly half a century has passed since most films and texts in the Noir tradition were created, yet one may wonder how much is really known to the highest degree these popular American products. Scholars remain fascinated by many aspects of Film Noir, yet it appears that its fictional precursors (such as the texts of Cain, McCoy and Hammett) may have been too quickly cut within the canon. Many have enthusiastically studied, for example, Film Noirs ground-breaking effects on lighting and acting techniques, as well as its value as a gauge of socio-political climate couldnt Noir texts, too, have initiated equally significant results?Whilst critics continue to dispute the categorization of filmic Noir, the very texts that spawned this filmic (r)evolution have been largely dismissed as predictable junk for the plebian masses, unspectacular in their normalcy as standard Modernist works. So I wonder what is it that makes these texts so plain and ordinary, and so Modernist that they require no further attention? Furthermore, in aligning these texts with one particular school (Modernism), are we not limiting their potential to convey a pronounced unique or progressive ideology? These questions propelled my investigation into Horace McCoys novel, They Shoot Horses, Dont They?. In the examination of this particular source, then, the premise of this paper is to highlight the capacity of Noir literature to defy Modernist values and pioneer late... ...ascinating questions could Noir literature have pre-dated the onslaught of post-World War Two Post-Modernist fiction? My guess is McCoy, and other Noir writers, were inner Post-Modernists aching to break from Modernist convention, while stil l turning a profit on their pulp fiction.WORKS CITEDMcCoy, Horace. They Shoot Horses, Dont They?. London Midnight Classics, 1995. Mary, Klages. Postmodernism. 21 Apr. 2003. University of Colorado. 24 Apr. 2004 . entropy n. The crisp Oxford Dictionary. Ed. Judy Pearsall. Oxford University Press, 2001. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. McGill University (Nylink). 25 Apr 2004. Pynchon, Thomas. Entropy. The Crying of Lot 49. Perennial, 1999.