CFP: Special Issue on Cornell Woolrich and Transmedia Noir

Crime Fiction Studies is preparing a special issue on mystery writer Cornell Woolrich (1903-1968), with a focus on his significance to the transmedia formation of America’s noir imaginary in the 1940s and 1950s. Known to film studies primarily for penning the source story for Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Woolrich was in fact the most heavily adapted contemporary crime author of his era. Yet despite this, his legacy for film noir remains obscured by his literary confrères: Chandler, Hammett, and Cain.

Deadline for abstracts: September 1, 2021
Deadline for full drafts: July 1, 2022

​Proposals for the issue will use Woolrich’s oeuvre as an optic into the media networks of American pulp fiction and the “weird tales” (in the parlance of the time) that were a seedbed of noir. Woolrich’s fiction was widely published in thriller magazines like Argosy and Black Mask, and his work was a frequent source for radio anthologies like Suspense and television series like Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Tracking the transmedia circulation of Woolrich’s stories and their various adaptations allows us to rethink film noir as part of a broader “noir mediascape” during this era. 
 
But Woolrich’s fiction also raises questions for adaptation theory that are unique among the leading mystery writers of his day. With the exception of an early stint at First National in the late 1920s, Woolrich maintained no working relation with the Hollywood studios and felt “ashamed” (his word) of their adaptations of his work. This, combined with his tendency to write under a variety of pseudonyms, had the effect of obscuring his market value as a literary commodity for the studios. Film adaptations of his work accordingly ran the gamut of cultural hierarchy, from obscure Monogram quickies to prestige studio releases (and eventually even to auteurist European art films by directors like Truffaut and Fassbinder).

Abstracts for the issue will be due September 1; decisions will be announced in October, with an anticipated deadline for full drafts (7,000-7,500 words) on July 1, 2022.

Please limit abstracts to around 200 words and include an author biography with your submission, sent to rk2704@columbia.edu.