Name: The Prone Gunman (City Lights Noir)
Price: 308.00 ZAR
Availability: InStock
Author: Jean-Patrick Manchette
ISBN: 9780872864023

portada The Prone Gunman (City Lights Noir)

Type

Physical Book

Author

Jean-Patrick Manchette

Translated by

James Brook

Publisher

City Lights Books

Year

2002

Language

English

Pages

155

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

18.4 x 12.6 x 0.9 cm

Weight

0.15 kg.

ISBN

0872864022

ISBN13

9780872864023

Synopsis "The Prone Gunman (City Lights Noir) "

His books are all action, unfolding with a laconic efficiency that would make his killers proud.--The EconomistMartin Terrier is a hired killer who wants out of the game--so he can settle down and marry his childhood sweetheart. After all, that's why he took up this profession! But the company won't let him go: they have other plans. Once again, the gunman must assume the prone firing position. A tour de force, this violent tale shatters as many illusions about life and politics as it does bodies. Jean-Patrick Manchette subjects his characters and the reader alike to a fierce exercise in style.This tightly plotted, corrosive parody of the success story is widely considered to be Manchette's masterpiece, and was named a New York Times Notable Book. The Prone Gunman is a classic of modern noir.For Manchette and the generation of writers who followed him, the crime novel is no mere entertainment, but a means to strip bare the failures of society, ripping through veils of appearance, deceit, and manipulation to the greed and violence that are the society's true engines.--Boston GlobeThere's not a superfluous word or overdone effect . . . one of the last cool, compact and shockingly original crime novels Manchette left as his legacy to modern noir fiction.--New York TimesFor the first time readers can experience in English translation the masterful thriller considered Manchette's finest, proof positive that the French knew what they were talking about when they labeled this sort of novel 'noir'.--Publishers WeeklyThis superbly muscular translation of the late French mystery writer Jean-Patrick Manchette's most celebrated work, The Prone Gunman, is the third volume issued [by] City Lights Noir. The series may prove to be the most needed contribution to contemporary fiction by any publisher in a good long while.--The San Francisco ChronicleJean-Patrick Manchette was a French crime novelist credited with reinventing and reinvigorating the genre. He wrote ten short novels in the 1970s and early 80s, and is widely recognized as the foremost French crime fiction author of that time. His stories are violent, existentialist explorations of the human condition and French society. Jazz saxophonist and screenwriter, Manchette was also a left-wing activist influenced as much by the writings of the Situationist International as by Dashiell Hammett. Jean-Patrick Manchette's Three to Kill as well as the movie tie-in The Gunman are also published by City Lights Publishers.

Jean-Patrick Manchette

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Jean-Patrick Manchette fue un novelista, guionista y crítico literario francés, considerado una de las figuras más influyentes en la renovación de la novela negra europea del siglo XX. Su estilo se distinguió por una escritura sobria y precisa, que fusionaba el relato policial con una fuerte carga política y social. Obras como De balas y bolas ejemplifican su capacidad para convertir historias de crimen en un retrato lúcido de la realidad, donde el trasfondo ideológico es tan relevante como la intriga narrativa.

Además de su producción literaria, Manchette tradujo y escribió guiones para cine y televisión, ampliando su impacto cultural más allá de los libros. Su legado se asocia con la corriente del “neo-polar”, que reconfiguró el género policial en Francia al dotarlo de un realismo crítico. Reconocido como un autor de culto, su obra sigue siendo referente para escritores y cineastas que exploran los vínculos entre violencia, poder y sociedad.

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