Like Hot Knives to the Brain - by Peter Wolfe (Paperback)

About the Book

James Ellroy's prose, in many ways as complex as any in the Western literary canon, strung together sensational stories of crime and catastrophe. The significance of his writing to Western culture has yet to be fully explored. Author Peter Wolfe offers us the first book-length...

Book Synopsis

James Ellroy's prose, in many ways as complex as any in the Western literary canon, strung together sensational stories of crime and catastrophe. The significance of his writing to Western culture has yet to be fully explored. Author Peter Wolfe offers us the first book-length study of Ellroy in English.

Review Quotes

Like Hot Knives to the Brain: James Ellroy's Search for Himself is a major contribution to the study of popular fiction. Wolfe offers an overview of Ellroy and his crime fiction, an overview that places Ellroy within the context of both the narrative genre of hard-boiled pulp crime fiction, and the social-psychological and cultural relevance of his writings. In typical fashion, Wolfe has done a marvelous job in presenting his detailed and insightful analysis of Ellroy.

Deserving of the highest praise, this book will serve those interested in both critical biography and detective fiction. Summing Up: Essential. All collections; all levels.

Ellroy's present and future readers deserve this excellent full-length study of his works in relation to his almost equally bizarre and emblematic life. . . . Wolfe exhibits, line by line, a razor-sharp intellect, a broad knowledge not only of the crime genre but of literature generally, a command of psychology, and a vivacious, energetic style that makes the book move swiftly from interesting point to interesting point.

No one identifies and connects the literary dots better, and more entertainingly, than Peter Wolfe. Without fail, he serves up fine writing about fine writers. Readers can't help but enjoy the works of his subjects all the more, once Wolfe has shared his insights and analyses.

Wolfe (English, U. of Missouri-St. Louis) discusses the violent and often gruesome work of contemporary American novelist Ellroy. He fins in the novels a self-presence that stems from the author having internalized the elements comprising the work, and from having recorded them with such naked honesty. Among the topics are an all-star cast of ruffians, ghostly visitations, the art of attack, riding a nightmare with Crazy Loyd, and back-door justice on the killing fields in The L.A. Quartet.

Wolfe is that rare creature in the literary jungle: a generous-minded pundit who loves writers, explores their world honestly and diligently, and gives us his findings with affection, elegance, and impressive insight. James Ellroy is a lucky man.

About the Author

Peter Wolfe is the Curators' Professor of English at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. His many book subjects include Graham Greene, Jean Rhys, Raymond Chandler, Yukio Mishima, William Gaddis, and the Twilight Zone television series. Wolfe's shorter works have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, the Chicago Tribune, the L. A. Times, the Washington Post, the New Zealand Listener, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Calcutta Statesman, and Modern Fiction Studies.