Perplexing Plots: Popular Storytelling and the Poetics of Murder

Narrative innovation is often associated with the avant-garde, but techniques like nonlinear timelines, multiple points of view, and unreliable narration have long been part of American popular culture. David Bordwell's book "Perplexing Plots" explores how crime fiction, plays, and films have made unconventional narrative mainstream, allowing ambitious storytellers to experiment with narrative and change popular storytelling. Bordwell examines the plot engineering of figures such as Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Patricia Highsmith, Alfred Hitchcock, Dorothy Sayers, and Quentin Tarantino and how mainstream storytellers and modernist experimenters influenced one another's work.

Format: Hardback
Length: 512 pages
Publication date: 17 January 2023
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Narrative innovation is often associated with the avant-garde, but techniques like nonlinear timelines, multiple points of view, and unreliable narration have long been part of American popular culture. How did forms and styles once considered "difficult" become familiar to audiences?

In his book "Perplexing Plots," David Bordwell explores how crime fiction, plays, and films have made unconventional narrative mainstream. He demonstrates that since the nineteenth century, detective stories and suspense thrillers have provided a platform for ambitious storytellers to experiment with narrative. These genres challenge audiences to appreciate artifice and demand a sophisticated awareness of storytelling conventions. Bordwell examines how writers and directors have engaged with their audiences to reshape popular storytelling. He analyzes the plot engineering of figures such as Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Patricia Highsmith, Alfred Hitchcock, Dorothy Sayers, and Quentin Tarantino, and traces how mainstream storytellers and modernist experimenters influenced each other's work.

Written in a lively and conversational style, "Perplexing Plots" offers a comprehensive new understanding of how movies, literature, theater, and popular culture have evolved over the past century. It provides a sweeping and kaleidoscopic account that will appeal to readers interested in narrative theory, film history, and popular culture.

Weight: 870g
Dimension: 164 x 242 x 35 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231206587