Nightmare Alley Gn

by Spain Rodriguez and William Lindsay Gresham

An adaptation of the long out-of-print 1930s cult novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham, illustrated by legendary underground cartoonist Spain Rodriguez. The story is a study of the lowest... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560975113
• ISBN13: 9781560975113
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.6" x 10.6"

Customer Reviews

Dark Americana

A noir classic that has received classic treatment under the pen of Spain Rodriguez, one of America's foremost under/above ground cartoonists. I first became fascinated by this book & William L. Gresham, by realizing that his ex-wife Joy, became a Christian and took off to England with the intention of meeting that best known Christian apologist of the 20th century, CS Lewis. They later married in the midst of her terminal illness from cancer. What would have made Joy flee the communist esoteric pleasures of living with Mr. Gresham to the arms of a rather sexless University Don? This is the great novel of the American underbelly. A society that has it's own culture both inside and out of the norm. I often see "Nightmare Alley" as the progenitor to the later fantasies of Wm. Burroughs. The grotesque & arabesque of the seemingly mundane American landscape is explored with a naked eye in this. And this Fantgraphics edition is your best bet for becoming aquainted to this lesser known masterpiece.

Grotesque, Repulsive, and Fascinating

Although largely forgotten today, Gresham's NIGHTMARE ALLEY was one of the great bestsellers of the 1940s--a grotesque tale of the rise of a Stanton Carlisle, a carny worker who moves up from bilking rubes at a traveling ten-in-one show to become a fake spiritualist bilking the rich and famous in an church elaborately rigged to support his fake senances. But success is fleeting, and Stan falls prey to the very insecurities that have driven him to success. When it comes, his fall has all the horror of being dropped into a blast furnace.Gresham writes in a tough-voiced pulp fiction tone that lingers over the most unsavory aspects of the story--sometimes to the point of nausea--and the result is a harsh vision of the world as a "nightmare alley," a one-way run with unseen hounds hell after you and death when you meet the brick wall at the end. The characters are memorable: the glib-tongued Stan, embroiled in his own Freudian hell; the hardknocks but likeable Zeena, a carny psychic who starts Stan on his career; the pretty but stupid Molly, who becomes Stan's unwilling partner in crime; and, always lurking somewhere in the background, the carny geek, the ultimate portrait in degredation and desperation, a monsterous man-made grotesque whose image frames the novel.The novel is deliberately disorienting, and each new section of the book is heralded by the use of a Tarot card to remarkable effect. NIGHTMARE ALLEY is powerful stuff, and it shouldn't be read on an empty stomach. Recommended, but brace yourself: when you pick up the book you'll find yourself on an express elevator, and it's straight down all the way.

Mister, I Was Made for It

The excellent movie with Tyrone Power isn't currently available -- too bad. It was written by the greatest Hollywood writer, Jules Furthman, who trimmed away some of Gresham's more baroque touches and flatulent moralizing (and gave it a great last line, until Darryl Zanuck softened the ending). As for the book itself, it's a blistering portrait of hubris and its consequences, and some of the writing (the early description of the geek at work) is as tough and uncompromising as any American writing ever. An unforgettable experience.

The End of Faith

This is an amazing little book, written in the saucy vernacular of the time. If for no other reason "Nightmare Alley" is famous for introducing the term "geek" to American culture.Having been raised a backwoods fundamentalist, this book struck close to home with sophisticated cons consisting of pregnant promises, and hope deferred. I credit the book with providing one of the last nails in the coffin of my faith. Ah, the freedom and relief!If you liked this book, you might also like "Don't Call Me Brother : A Ringmaster's Escape from the Pentecostal Church," by Austin Miles. Miles' (named after the man who wrote 'I Come to the Garden Alone') story is similar but true.The contradiction in Nightmare Alley, and all other cons, is that to execute a successful con you have to believe your own story to at least a minimal degree, and once you do that you'll fall for anything.

An excellent and interesting view of carnival life

I read this book recently and I also saw the movie with Tyrone Power. In my opinion the book is far superior. It is tough and unapologetic, and in my opinion represents the character of Stanton Carlisle as it really would be given his upbringing and interests. Carlisle is a mean carney, always on the lookout to better himself whether at someone else's expense or through his own cleverness. He takes what he wants when he wants it, and his rise and fall is honest and interesting.On the other hand, the movie version of "Nightmare Alley" has too many Hollywood touches and comes across as dishonest. In the movie Carlisle is truly in love with his wife and does what he does for her benefit as well as his own. This is nice and all, but it comes across as very, very phoney since we already know quite a bit about Carlisle's ruthlessness and selfishness. And there's a happy ending in the movie. The book ends unhappily but honestly, and the ending is foreshadowed by earlier events. The one thing to recommend the movie is Tyrone Power's performance, which is only bettered, in my opinion, by his wonderful role as the rich aristocrat in "Son of Fury."