By examining Jim Thompson’s novels, published between 1952-1955–The Killer Inside Me, A Hell of a Woman, After Dark, My Sweet, and Savage Night–this essay interrogates the relationship created between the narrator and the reader, how the narrator–and Thompson in turn–highlights certain societal flaws, emphasizing how ethical consequence is born out of the attempt to attain freedom from one’s cultural circumstance–both in terms of economic restraint and mental health status. Through this, Thompson implies that the reader is trapped in similar economic and ethical predispositions. The reader is often left questioning what they might have done, or been able to do, in similar circumstances. This creates a larger frame by which Thompson implies that the reader is trapped in similar economic and ethical pre-dispositions as his narrators. He highlights societal flaws, demonstrating how the pursuit of freedom of one’s cultural circumstance bears ethical consequence. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-29T14:11:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_4660_Felipe de Oliveira Fiuza.pdf: 369187 bytes, checksum: 96583c5175d693658068592c041f7efe (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-28 / Tendo em vista a importante contribuição dos estudos culturais e literários para o aprofundamento do debate sobre as narrativas policiais norte-americanas, este estudo pretende levantar singularidades, rupturas e questões de masculinidade(s) associadas à literatura hardboiled, de modo a fundamentar uma investigação de sua reverberação na obra de Rubem Fonseca. Para tal fim, parte-se, principalmente, dos estudos de masculinidade hegemônica empreendidos por R.W. Connell e seus comentadores, e da análise de três dos maiores expoentes fundadores do gênero, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler e Jim Thompson. Considerando essa fundação da literatura policial norte-americana, serão então analisadas quatro obras protagonizadas pelo personagem Mandrake, ―O Caso F.A‖, ―Dia dos Namorados‖, ―Mandrake‖ e o romance A Grande Arte. Pretende-se, assim, observar como o autor se vale dessa tradição da literatura policial, e de suas implicações com questões de masculinidade(s), para criar uma obra de tamanha potência crítica, estilística e política. / Taking into consideration the important contribution of literary and cultural studies to the deepening of debate about North-American detective narratives, this study intends to assemble singularities, disconnections and contemporary masculinity issues associated with hard-boiled literature, aiming to substantiate an investigation of its influence in Rubem Fonseca‘s work. In order to do so, we take as a starting point the studies of hegemonic masculinities, by R.W. Connell and her commentators, and the analysis of three of the genre‘s founding fathers, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Jim Thompson. Considering the foundation of North-American detective novel, four works which has Mandrake as its main character will be analyzed : ―O Caso F.A‖, ―Dia dos Namorados‖, ―Mandrake‖ and the novel A Grande Arte. Seeking to observe how the author utilizes the hard-boiled tradition and its implications in masculinities issues in order to create a work of enormous critical, stylistic and political potency.