My apologies for the delay in responding as I had an
unexpected trip come up and have been offline for most of the
last three days.
I will list several novels and stores by Woolrich which are
good examples of his work based upon my own reading and
supplemented by the opinions of the leading Woolrich scholar
Francis M. Nevins, Jr.
Woolrich loved variations on the "race against the clock"
motiff and if he didn't invent it, he certainly was a leading
practioner. It added nicely to the suspense and suited his,
at times, near feverish prose style and headlong pace.
Examples of this include PHANTOM LADY (1942) where the
chapter headings are "The One Hundred and Fiftieth Day Before
the Execution" and progress to "The Day of the Execution" and
then "The Hour of the Execution." From the moment of seeing
the first chapter heading, the reader is plunged into the
story. Another example is DEADLINE AT DAWN (1944)with the
chapter headings a clock face showing time ticking away. Both
were originally published under the William Irish name but
often reprinted by Woolrich. There is a three-in-one book
club edition that is very common published under the Irish
name that has both these novels as well as the short story
collection AFTER DINNER STORY (1944) which was my own
introduction to Irish/Woolrich. One short story of note
featuring this motif is "Three O'Clock" which Alfred
Hitchcock adapted for a television production starring E. G.
Marshall under the title "One Hour".
Under the Woolrich name, he published a series of novels with
"Black" in the title. The best known is THE BRIDE WORE BLACK
(1940), which Truffaut filmed in 1968. This features another
favorite Woolrich theme, that of an innocent person plunged
into a nightmare situation by the cruel universe. He later
reworked some of the same plot elements in Bride in
RENDEZVOUS IN BLACK (1948) which is my own personal favorite.
All of the "Black" novels (BLACK ALIBI (1942), THE BLACK
ANGEL (1943), etc. have their fans.
Other novels include I MARRIED A DEAD MAN (1948), which was
filmed twice, and THE NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES (1945), which
was first published under the name George Hopley. I have yet
to read EYES but am starting it now as my own reading
assignment. Oddly, the paperback edition I have is under the
Irish name. William Irish was for many years better known and
regarded than Woolrich.
As you can see from the books I've listed, the decade of the
1940s was Woolrich's prime period as a novelist. His later
novels I find very flawed. However, he did write some
excellent short stories in the 1950s and 1960s.
Richard Moore
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Lawrence Coates"
<coatesl@...> wrote:
>
> Could Richard Moore give a list of three to five
essential
Woolriches for us neophytes?
> Having lurked here for awhile, I know this might
turn into a
discussion over which three to
> five. But just a few titles, that would give me an
idea of where
to start, would be great.
>
> Lawrence
>
> ---------Included Message----------
> >Date: 29-Jan-2008 16:53:25 -0500
> >From: "jacquesdebierue"
<jacquesdebierue@...>
> >Reply-To: <
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com>
> >To: <
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com>
> >Subject: RARA-AVIS: Get out your
Woolriches!
> >
> >On February 1 we start Cornell Woolrich Month,
which I expect to
bring
> >on some good commentary. Richard Moore has
agreed to be master of
> >ceremonies and I will help him with that
task.
> >
> >The availability of Woolriches at any given time
is unpredictable,
but
> >a fair chunk of his stuff is available
used.
> >
> >Best,
> >
> >mrt
> >
> >
> >
> ---------End of Included
Message----------
>
> Lawrence Coates
> Associate Professor of Creative Writing
> Bowling Green State University
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 01 Feb 2008 EST