Abstract
This project traces the appearance and development of the homme fatal—or, the archetype of the dangerous man—in early twentieth-century American crime fiction. It contends that conventional conceptions of this archetype rarely present a significant ideological threat to the protagonist in a manner similar to that of the femme fatale. Instead, these men—conceived as hyper (and hetero) sexualized, driven by avarice—actually embody and thus reinforce the patriarchal paradigm that the femme fatale destabilises. The intent of this project is to reimagine an alternative homme fatal in figures which are not only dangerous, but deviant, thus drawing into question the core tenets of the hardboiled ideology, which is represented in the protagonist who is typically white, heterosexual, and male.This project adopts a dual approach in its analysis. Firstly, it considers the development of noir, American masculinities, and by consequence the homme fatal, by examining a corpus of pulp fiction, hardboiled novels, and film noir. Adopting the framework presented in Christopher Breu and Elizabeth Hatmaker’s study, Noir Affect (2020), the project articulates the homme fatal as an agent of negative affect, in its resistance to ‘positivisation’—both philosophically and socially (3). Secondly, the project traces the ways in which the homme fatal, like the femme fatale, develops over this period to codify anxieties around the changing interface of the American cultural landscape.
This project seeks to argue that the homme fatal not only enhances our understanding of gender dynamics in mid-twentieth-century America but also contributes to the rich tapestry of noir fiction. By analysing the development of this character in relation to the femme fatale and broader societal changes, the study highlights how the homme fatal reflects cultural and social anxieties by embodying deviations from normative masculinity that resist hegemonic scripts. This project employs theoretical perspectives on gender, sexuality, and race to address the underexplored archetype, for the figure of the homme fatal has not received adequate scholarly attention despite its powerful reflection of changing conceptions of masculinity within early twentieth-century American culture.
| Date of Award | 5 Sept 2024 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Eric Peter SANDBERG (Supervisor) |