Broadway Boogie Woogie: Damon Runyon and the Making of New York City Culture - Paperback

by D. Schwarz (Author)

While analyzing Damon Runyon's high spirited work in terms of historical contexts, popular culture, and of the changing function of the media, Schwarz argues that in his columns and stories Runyon was an indispensable figure in creating our public images of New York City culture, including our interest in the demi-monde and underworld that explains in part the success of The Godfather films and The Sopranos . In his lively and exuberant chapters that include a panoramic view of New York City between the World Wars - with a focus on its colourful nightlife - Schwarz examines virtually every facet of Runyon's career from sports writer, daily columnist, trial reporter, and Hollywood figure to the author of the still widely-read short stories that were the source of the Broadway hit Guys and Dolls . As part of his discussion of Runyon's art and the artistry of Runyon's fiction, Schwarz skilfully examines the special language of the Broadway stories known as 'Runyonese', and explains how 'Runyonese' has become an adjective for describing flamboyant behaviour.

Author Biography

DANIEL R. SCHWARZ is Professor of English and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow at Cornell University, where he has taught since 1968. He has received Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences Russell award for distinguished teaching. He is the author of the widely read Imagining the Holocaust (1999). His most recent book is Rereading Conrad (2001). His prior books include Reconfiguring Modernism: Explorations in the Relationship Between Modern Art and Modern Literature (1997), Narrative and Representation in Wallace Stevens (1993), The Case for a Humanistic Poetics (1991), The Transformation of the English Novel, 1890-1930 (1989; revised 1995) Reading Joyce's 'Ulysses' (1987); The Humanistic Heritage: Critical Theories of the English Novel from James to Hillis Miller (1986); Conrad: The Later Fiction (1982); Conrad: 'Almayer's Folly' through 'Under Western Eyes' (1980); and Disraeli's Fiction (1979). He has edited The Dead (1994) and The Secret Sharer (1997) in the Bedford Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism Series, and is co-editor of Narrative and Culture (1994). He has directed nine NEH seminars, and has lectured widely in the United States and abroad.