Staying Up Much Too Late: Edward Hopper's Nighthawks and the Dark Side of the American Psyche

Staying Up Much Too Late: Edward Hopper's Nighthawks and the Dark Side of the American Psyche by Theisen, Gordon. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780312333423.

A fascinating study of Edward Hoppers iconic Nighthawks painting and its deep significance for understanding American culture. Staying up Much Too Late discusses the painting Nighthawks and the painter Edward Hopper and their central importance to twentieth-century American culture. Topics include individualism, New York City, Arthur "Weegee" Fellig, diners, pornography, capitalism, advertising, cigarettes, American philosophy, World War II, Gravitys Rainbow, Blade Runner, Pulp Fiction, Russ Meyer, R. Crumb, David Lynch, and film noir What links these together is the paintings pessimistic take on American culture, which it also seems to epitomize. Despite its desolate feel, Nighthawks has become a familiar icon, reproduced on posters and postcards, in movies and on television shows. But Nighthawks is more than just a masterful painting. It is a portal into that rarely acknowledged but pervasive dark side of the American psyche.