Author: Thijs Feryn
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 149197219X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 158
Book Description
How long does it take for your website to load? Web performance is just as critical for small and medium-sized websites as it is for massive websites that receive tons of hits. Before you pour money and time into rewriting your code or replacing your infrastructure, first consider a reverse-caching proxy server like Varnish. With this practical book, you’ll learn how Varnish can give your website or API an immediate performance boost. Varnish mimicks the behavior of your webserver, caches its output in memory, and serves the result directly to clients without having to access your webserver. If you’re a web developer familiar with HTTP, this book helps you master Varnish basics, so you can get up and running in no time. You’ll learn how to use the Varnish Configuration Language and HTTP best practices to achieve faster performance and a higher hit rate. Understand how Varnish helps you gain optimum web performance Use HTTP to improve the cache-ability of your websites, web applications, and APIs Properly invalidate your cache when the origin data changes Optimize access to your backend servers Avoid common mistakes when using Varnish in the wild Use logging and debugging tools to examine the behavior of Varnish
Getting Started with Varnish Cache
Author: Thijs Feryn
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 149197219X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 158
Book Description
How long does it take for your website to load? Web performance is just as critical for small and medium-sized websites as it is for massive websites that receive tons of hits. Before you pour money and time into rewriting your code or replacing your infrastructure, first consider a reverse-caching proxy server like Varnish. With this practical book, you’ll learn how Varnish can give your website or API an immediate performance boost. Varnish mimicks the behavior of your webserver, caches its output in memory, and serves the result directly to clients without having to access your webserver. If you’re a web developer familiar with HTTP, this book helps you master Varnish basics, so you can get up and running in no time. You’ll learn how to use the Varnish Configuration Language and HTTP best practices to achieve faster performance and a higher hit rate. Understand how Varnish helps you gain optimum web performance Use HTTP to improve the cache-ability of your websites, web applications, and APIs Properly invalidate your cache when the origin data changes Optimize access to your backend servers Avoid common mistakes when using Varnish in the wild Use logging and debugging tools to examine the behavior of Varnish
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 149197219X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 158
Book Description
How long does it take for your website to load? Web performance is just as critical for small and medium-sized websites as it is for massive websites that receive tons of hits. Before you pour money and time into rewriting your code or replacing your infrastructure, first consider a reverse-caching proxy server like Varnish. With this practical book, you’ll learn how Varnish can give your website or API an immediate performance boost. Varnish mimicks the behavior of your webserver, caches its output in memory, and serves the result directly to clients without having to access your webserver. If you’re a web developer familiar with HTTP, this book helps you master Varnish basics, so you can get up and running in no time. You’ll learn how to use the Varnish Configuration Language and HTTP best practices to achieve faster performance and a higher hit rate. Understand how Varnish helps you gain optimum web performance Use HTTP to improve the cache-ability of your websites, web applications, and APIs Properly invalidate your cache when the origin data changes Optimize access to your backend servers Avoid common mistakes when using Varnish in the wild Use logging and debugging tools to examine the behavior of Varnish
Arduino Development Cookbook
Author: Cornel Amariei
Publisher: Packt Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1783982950
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 373
Book Description
If you want to build programming and electronics projects that interact with the environment, this book will offer you dozens of recipes to guide you through all the major applications of the Arduino platform. It is intended for programming or electronics enthusiasts who want to combine the best of both worlds to build interactive projects.
Publisher: Packt Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1783982950
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 373
Book Description
If you want to build programming and electronics projects that interact with the environment, this book will offer you dozens of recipes to guide you through all the major applications of the Arduino platform. It is intended for programming or electronics enthusiasts who want to combine the best of both worlds to build interactive projects.
Instant Varnish Cache How-to
Author: Roberto Moutinho
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cache memory
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cache memory
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Mastering Adobe Commerce Frontend
Author: Jakub Winkler
Publisher: Packt Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1837637385
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
A comprehensive guide to Adobe Commerce storefront development covering theme creation, customization, JavaScript usage, and optimization techniques for optimal customer satisfaction Key Features Learn techniques for customizing templates and layouts for an optimal user experience Use the command-line interface for efficient and streamlined theme development and deployment Implement best practices for using JavaScript and frontend optimization techniques for improved performance and customer satisfaction Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook Book DescriptionNavigating the frontend realm of the Adobe Commerce platform can often feel like a labyrinth, given its multifaceted systems and intricate layering. This book demystifies Adobe Commerce frontend development, guiding you through its paths with clarity and precision. You'll learn how to set up your local environment, paving the way for a smooth development experience and navigate the platform's theming ecosystem, exploring layout XML systems and the power of templates. As you progress through the book, you'll leverage an array of JavaScript libraries and frameworks that Adobe Commerce boasts of, with special emphasis on RequireJS, jQuery, Knockout.JS, and UI Components. Additionally, you'll gain an understanding of the intricacies of Adobe Commerce CMS, explore frontend-related configurations in the admin panel, and unlock the secrets of frontend optimization. Practical exercises provided in the book will enable you to create top-notch Adobe Commerce sites that are functional, optimized, user-centric, and a step ahead in the ever-evolving frontend landscape.What you will learn Set up your own Dockerized environment in the Adobe Commerce platform Customize page structure using Layout XML, templates, and a fallback system Build and personalize system emails to match website themes Work with various JavaScript frameworks and libraries in the project Create and manage content using the Adobe Commerce CMS system Validate your solutions with the practical examples provided Who this book is for The book is ideal for storefront developers proficient in frontend technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, aiming to broaden their knowledge of Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source applications. If you've encountered challenges with frontend development for Adobe Commerce and struggled to find solutions online, this book is tailored to assist you.
Publisher: Packt Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1837637385
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
A comprehensive guide to Adobe Commerce storefront development covering theme creation, customization, JavaScript usage, and optimization techniques for optimal customer satisfaction Key Features Learn techniques for customizing templates and layouts for an optimal user experience Use the command-line interface for efficient and streamlined theme development and deployment Implement best practices for using JavaScript and frontend optimization techniques for improved performance and customer satisfaction Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook Book DescriptionNavigating the frontend realm of the Adobe Commerce platform can often feel like a labyrinth, given its multifaceted systems and intricate layering. This book demystifies Adobe Commerce frontend development, guiding you through its paths with clarity and precision. You'll learn how to set up your local environment, paving the way for a smooth development experience and navigate the platform's theming ecosystem, exploring layout XML systems and the power of templates. As you progress through the book, you'll leverage an array of JavaScript libraries and frameworks that Adobe Commerce boasts of, with special emphasis on RequireJS, jQuery, Knockout.JS, and UI Components. Additionally, you'll gain an understanding of the intricacies of Adobe Commerce CMS, explore frontend-related configurations in the admin panel, and unlock the secrets of frontend optimization. Practical exercises provided in the book will enable you to create top-notch Adobe Commerce sites that are functional, optimized, user-centric, and a step ahead in the ever-evolving frontend landscape.What you will learn Set up your own Dockerized environment in the Adobe Commerce platform Customize page structure using Layout XML, templates, and a fallback system Build and personalize system emails to match website themes Work with various JavaScript frameworks and libraries in the project Create and manage content using the Adobe Commerce CMS system Validate your solutions with the practical examples provided Who this book is for The book is ideal for storefront developers proficient in frontend technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, aiming to broaden their knowledge of Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source applications. If you've encountered challenges with frontend development for Adobe Commerce and struggled to find solutions online, this book is tailored to assist you.
Play Among Books
Author: Miro Roman
Publisher: Birkhäuser
ISBN: 3035624054
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 528
Book Description
How does coding change the way we think about architecture? This question opens up an important research perspective. In this book, Miro Roman and his AI Alice_ch3n81 develop a playful scenario in which they propose coding as the new literacy of information. They convey knowledge in the form of a project model that links the fields of architecture and information through two interwoven narrative strands in an “infinite flow” of real books. Focusing on the intersection of information technology and architectural formulation, the authors create an evolving intellectual reflection on digital architecture and computer science.
Publisher: Birkhäuser
ISBN: 3035624054
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 528
Book Description
How does coding change the way we think about architecture? This question opens up an important research perspective. In this book, Miro Roman and his AI Alice_ch3n81 develop a playful scenario in which they propose coding as the new literacy of information. They convey knowledge in the form of a project model that links the fields of architecture and information through two interwoven narrative strands in an “infinite flow” of real books. Focusing on the intersection of information technology and architectural formulation, the authors create an evolving intellectual reflection on digital architecture and computer science.
HTTP/2 in Action
Author: Barry Pollard
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 163835233X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 577
Book Description
Summary HTTP/2 in Action is a complete guide to HTTP/2, one of the core protocols of the web. Because HTTP/2 has been designed to be easy to transition to, including keeping it backwards compatible, adoption is rapid and expected to increase over the next few years. Concentrating on practical matters, this interesting book presents key HTTP/2 concepts such as frames, streams, and multiplexing and explores how they affect the performance and behavior of your websites. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Technology HTTP—Hypertext Transfer Protocol—is the standard for exchanging messages between websites and browsers. And after 20 years, it's gotten a much-needed upgrade. With support for streams, server push, header compression, and prioritization, HTTP/2 delivers vast improvements in speed, security, and efficiency. About the Book HTTP/2 in Action teaches you everything you need to know to use HTTP/2 effectively. You'll learn how to optimize web performance with new features like frames, multiplexing, and push. You'll also explore real-world examples on advanced topics like flow control and dependencies. With ready-to-implement tips and best practices, this practical guide is sure to get you—and your websites—up to speed! What's Inside HTTP/2 for web developers Upgrading and troubleshooting Real-world examples and case studies QUIC and HTTP/3 About the Reader Written for web developers and site administrators. About the Authors Barry Pollard is a professional developer with two decades of experience developing, supporting, and tuning software and infrastructure. Table of Contents PART 1 MOVING TO HTTP/2 Web technologies and HTTP The road to HTTP/2 Upgrading to HTTP/2 PART 2 USING HTTP/2 HTTP/2 protocol basics Implementing HTTP/2 push Optimizing for HTTP/2 PART 3 ADVANCED HTTP/2 Advanced HTTP/2 concepts HPACK header compression PART 4 THE FUTURE OF HTTP TCP, QUIC, and HTTP/3 Where HTTP goes from here
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 163835233X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 577
Book Description
Summary HTTP/2 in Action is a complete guide to HTTP/2, one of the core protocols of the web. Because HTTP/2 has been designed to be easy to transition to, including keeping it backwards compatible, adoption is rapid and expected to increase over the next few years. Concentrating on practical matters, this interesting book presents key HTTP/2 concepts such as frames, streams, and multiplexing and explores how they affect the performance and behavior of your websites. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Technology HTTP—Hypertext Transfer Protocol—is the standard for exchanging messages between websites and browsers. And after 20 years, it's gotten a much-needed upgrade. With support for streams, server push, header compression, and prioritization, HTTP/2 delivers vast improvements in speed, security, and efficiency. About the Book HTTP/2 in Action teaches you everything you need to know to use HTTP/2 effectively. You'll learn how to optimize web performance with new features like frames, multiplexing, and push. You'll also explore real-world examples on advanced topics like flow control and dependencies. With ready-to-implement tips and best practices, this practical guide is sure to get you—and your websites—up to speed! What's Inside HTTP/2 for web developers Upgrading and troubleshooting Real-world examples and case studies QUIC and HTTP/3 About the Reader Written for web developers and site administrators. About the Authors Barry Pollard is a professional developer with two decades of experience developing, supporting, and tuning software and infrastructure. Table of Contents PART 1 MOVING TO HTTP/2 Web technologies and HTTP The road to HTTP/2 Upgrading to HTTP/2 PART 2 USING HTTP/2 HTTP/2 protocol basics Implementing HTTP/2 push Optimizing for HTTP/2 PART 3 ADVANCED HTTP/2 Advanced HTTP/2 concepts HPACK header compression PART 4 THE FUTURE OF HTTP TCP, QUIC, and HTTP/3 Where HTTP goes from here
High Performance Drupal
Author: Jeff Sheltren
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 1449358039
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 279
Book Description
How can you help your Drupal website continue to perform at the highest level as it grows to meet demand? This comprehensive guide provides best practices, examples, and in-depth explanations for solving several performance and scalability issues. You’ll learn how to apply coding and infrastructure techniques to Drupal internals, application performance, databases, web servers, and performance analysis. Covering Drupal versions 7 and 8, this book is the ideal reference for everything from site deployment to implementing specific technologies such as Varnish, memcache, or Solr. If you have a basic understanding of Drupal and the Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP (LAMP) stack, you’re ready to get started. Establish a performance baseline and define goals for improvement Optimize your website’s code and front-end performance Get best and worst practices for customizing Drupal core functionality Apply infrastructure design techniques to launch or expand a site Use tools to configure, monitor, and optimize MySQL performance Employ alternative storage and backend search options as your site grows Tune your web servers through httpd and PHP configuration Monitor services and perform load tests to catch problems before they become critical
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 1449358039
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 279
Book Description
How can you help your Drupal website continue to perform at the highest level as it grows to meet demand? This comprehensive guide provides best practices, examples, and in-depth explanations for solving several performance and scalability issues. You’ll learn how to apply coding and infrastructure techniques to Drupal internals, application performance, databases, web servers, and performance analysis. Covering Drupal versions 7 and 8, this book is the ideal reference for everything from site deployment to implementing specific technologies such as Varnish, memcache, or Solr. If you have a basic understanding of Drupal and the Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP (LAMP) stack, you’re ready to get started. Establish a performance baseline and define goals for improvement Optimize your website’s code and front-end performance Get best and worst practices for customizing Drupal core functionality Apply infrastructure design techniques to launch or expand a site Use tools to configure, monitor, and optimize MySQL performance Employ alternative storage and backend search options as your site grows Tune your web servers through httpd and PHP configuration Monitor services and perform load tests to catch problems before they become critical
Linux Administration Cookbook
Author: Adam K. Dean
Publisher: Packt Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1789340284
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 818
Book Description
Over 100 recipes to get up and running with the modern Linux administration ecosystem Key FeaturesUnderstand and implement the core system administration tasks in LinuxDiscover tools and techniques to troubleshoot your Linux systemMaintain a healthy system with good security and backup practicesBook Description Linux is one of the most widely used operating systems among system administrators,and even modern application and server development is heavily reliant on the Linux platform. The Linux Administration Cookbook is your go-to guide to get started on your Linux journey. It will help you understand what that strange little server is doing in the corner of your office, what the mysterious virtual machine languishing in Azure is crunching through, what that circuit-board-like thing is doing under your office TV, and why the LEDs on it are blinking rapidly. This book will get you started with administering Linux, giving you the knowledge and tools you need to troubleshoot day-to-day problems, ranging from a Raspberry Pi to a server in Azure, while giving you a good understanding of the fundamentals of how GNU/Linux works. Through the course of the book, you’ll install and configure a system, while the author regales you with errors and anecdotes from his vast experience as a data center hardware engineer, systems administrator, and DevOps consultant. By the end of the book, you will have gained practical knowledge of Linux, which will serve as a bedrock for learning Linux administration and aid you in your Linux journey. What you will learnInstall and manage a Linux server, both locally and in the cloudUnderstand how to perform administration across all Linux distrosWork through evolving concepts such as IaaS versus PaaS, containers, and automationExplore security and configuration best practicesTroubleshoot your system if something goes wrongDiscover and mitigate hardware issues, such as faulty memory and failing drivesWho this book is for If you are a system engineer or system administrator with basic experience of working with Linux, this book is for you.
Publisher: Packt Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1789340284
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 818
Book Description
Over 100 recipes to get up and running with the modern Linux administration ecosystem Key FeaturesUnderstand and implement the core system administration tasks in LinuxDiscover tools and techniques to troubleshoot your Linux systemMaintain a healthy system with good security and backup practicesBook Description Linux is one of the most widely used operating systems among system administrators,and even modern application and server development is heavily reliant on the Linux platform. The Linux Administration Cookbook is your go-to guide to get started on your Linux journey. It will help you understand what that strange little server is doing in the corner of your office, what the mysterious virtual machine languishing in Azure is crunching through, what that circuit-board-like thing is doing under your office TV, and why the LEDs on it are blinking rapidly. This book will get you started with administering Linux, giving you the knowledge and tools you need to troubleshoot day-to-day problems, ranging from a Raspberry Pi to a server in Azure, while giving you a good understanding of the fundamentals of how GNU/Linux works. Through the course of the book, you’ll install and configure a system, while the author regales you with errors and anecdotes from his vast experience as a data center hardware engineer, systems administrator, and DevOps consultant. By the end of the book, you will have gained practical knowledge of Linux, which will serve as a bedrock for learning Linux administration and aid you in your Linux journey. What you will learnInstall and manage a Linux server, both locally and in the cloudUnderstand how to perform administration across all Linux distrosWork through evolving concepts such as IaaS versus PaaS, containers, and automationExplore security and configuration best practicesTroubleshoot your system if something goes wrongDiscover and mitigate hardware issues, such as faulty memory and failing drivesWho this book is for If you are a system engineer or system administrator with basic experience of working with Linux, this book is for you.
Mastering Symfony
Author: Sohail Salehi
Publisher: Packt Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784394262
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
Orchestrate the designing, development, testing, and deployment of web applications with Symfony About This Book Create a robust and reliable Symfony development pipeline using Amazon's cloud platform Cut development and maintenance costs by defining crystal clear features and possible scenarios for each feature before implementation Follow detailed examples provided in each chapter to create a task management application Who This Book Is For If you are a PHP developer with some experience in Symfony and are looking to master the framework and use it to its full potential, then this book is for you. Though experience with PHP, object-oriented techniques, and Symfony basics is assumed, this book will give you a crash course on the basics and then proceed to more advanced topics. What You Will Learn Install and configure Symfony and required third-party bundles to develop a task management application Set up a continuous integration server to orchestrate automatic builds every time you add a new feature to your project Reduce maintenance costs dramatically using Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) Create a slick user interface using the Bootstrap framework Design robust business logic using Doctrine Build a comprehensive dashboard and secure your project using the Sonata project Improve performance using Redis, Memcache, and Varnish Create customized Symfony commands and add them to your console In Detail In this book, you will learn some lesser known aspects of development with Symfony, and you will see how to use Symfony as a framework to create reliable and effective applications. You might have developed some impressive PHP libraries in other projects, but what is the point when your library is tied to one particular project? With Symfony, you can turn your code into a service and reuse it in other projects. This book starts with Symfony concepts such as bundles, routing, twig, doctrine, and more, taking you through the request/response life cycle. You will then proceed to set up development, test, and deployment environments in AWS. Then you will create reliable projects using Behat and Mink, and design business logic, cover authentication, and authorization steps in a security checking process. You will be walked through concepts such as DependencyInjection, service containers, and services, and go through steps to create customized commands for Symfony's console. Finally, the book covers performance optimization and the use of Varnish and Memcached in our project, and you are treated with the creation of database agnostic bundles and best practices. Style and approach A step-by-step guide to mastering Symfony while developing a task management application. Each chapter comes with detailed examples.
Publisher: Packt Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784394262
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
Orchestrate the designing, development, testing, and deployment of web applications with Symfony About This Book Create a robust and reliable Symfony development pipeline using Amazon's cloud platform Cut development and maintenance costs by defining crystal clear features and possible scenarios for each feature before implementation Follow detailed examples provided in each chapter to create a task management application Who This Book Is For If you are a PHP developer with some experience in Symfony and are looking to master the framework and use it to its full potential, then this book is for you. Though experience with PHP, object-oriented techniques, and Symfony basics is assumed, this book will give you a crash course on the basics and then proceed to more advanced topics. What You Will Learn Install and configure Symfony and required third-party bundles to develop a task management application Set up a continuous integration server to orchestrate automatic builds every time you add a new feature to your project Reduce maintenance costs dramatically using Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) Create a slick user interface using the Bootstrap framework Design robust business logic using Doctrine Build a comprehensive dashboard and secure your project using the Sonata project Improve performance using Redis, Memcache, and Varnish Create customized Symfony commands and add them to your console In Detail In this book, you will learn some lesser known aspects of development with Symfony, and you will see how to use Symfony as a framework to create reliable and effective applications. You might have developed some impressive PHP libraries in other projects, but what is the point when your library is tied to one particular project? With Symfony, you can turn your code into a service and reuse it in other projects. This book starts with Symfony concepts such as bundles, routing, twig, doctrine, and more, taking you through the request/response life cycle. You will then proceed to set up development, test, and deployment environments in AWS. Then you will create reliable projects using Behat and Mink, and design business logic, cover authentication, and authorization steps in a security checking process. You will be walked through concepts such as DependencyInjection, service containers, and services, and go through steps to create customized commands for Symfony's console. Finally, the book covers performance optimization and the use of Varnish and Memcached in our project, and you are treated with the creation of database agnostic bundles and best practices. Style and approach A step-by-step guide to mastering Symfony while developing a task management application. Each chapter comes with detailed examples.
Somewhere in the Night
Author: Nicholas Christopher
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439137617
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
Film noir is more than a cinematic genre. It is an essential aspect of American culture. Along with the cowboy of the Wild West, the denizen of the film noir city is at the very center of our mythological iconography. Described as the style of an anxious victor, film noir began during the post-war period, a strange time of hope and optimism mixed with fear and even paranoia. The shadow of this rich and powerful cinematic style can now be seen in virtually every artistic medium. The spectacular success of recent neo-film noirs is only the tip of an iceberg. In the dead-on, nocturnal jazz of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, the chilled urban landscapes of Edward Hopper, and postwar literary fiction from Nelson Algren and William S. Burroughs to pulp masters like Horace McCoy, we find an unsettling recognition of the dark hollowness beneath the surface of the American Dream. Acclaimed novelist and poet Nicholas Christopher explores the cultural identity of film noir in a seamless, elegant, and enchanting work of literary prose. Examining virtually the entire catalogue of film noir, Christopher identifies the central motif as the urban labyrinth, a place infested with psychosis, anxiety, and existential dread in which the noir hero embarks on a dangerously illuminating quest. With acute sensitivity, he shows how technical devices such as lighting, voice over, and editing tempo are deployed to create the film noir world. Somewhere in the Night guides us through the architecture of this imaginary world, be it shot in New York or Los Angeles, relating its elements to the ancient cultural archetypes that prefigure it. Finally, Christopher builds an explanation of why film noir not only lives on but is currently enjoying a renaissance. Somewhere in the Night can be appreciated as a lucid introduction to a fundamental style of American culture, and also as a guide to film noir's heyday. Ultimately, though, as the work of a bold talent adeptly manipulating poetic cadence and metaphor, it is itself a superb aesthetic artifact.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439137617
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
Film noir is more than a cinematic genre. It is an essential aspect of American culture. Along with the cowboy of the Wild West, the denizen of the film noir city is at the very center of our mythological iconography. Described as the style of an anxious victor, film noir began during the post-war period, a strange time of hope and optimism mixed with fear and even paranoia. The shadow of this rich and powerful cinematic style can now be seen in virtually every artistic medium. The spectacular success of recent neo-film noirs is only the tip of an iceberg. In the dead-on, nocturnal jazz of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, the chilled urban landscapes of Edward Hopper, and postwar literary fiction from Nelson Algren and William S. Burroughs to pulp masters like Horace McCoy, we find an unsettling recognition of the dark hollowness beneath the surface of the American Dream. Acclaimed novelist and poet Nicholas Christopher explores the cultural identity of film noir in a seamless, elegant, and enchanting work of literary prose. Examining virtually the entire catalogue of film noir, Christopher identifies the central motif as the urban labyrinth, a place infested with psychosis, anxiety, and existential dread in which the noir hero embarks on a dangerously illuminating quest. With acute sensitivity, he shows how technical devices such as lighting, voice over, and editing tempo are deployed to create the film noir world. Somewhere in the Night guides us through the architecture of this imaginary world, be it shot in New York or Los Angeles, relating its elements to the ancient cultural archetypes that prefigure it. Finally, Christopher builds an explanation of why film noir not only lives on but is currently enjoying a renaissance. Somewhere in the Night can be appreciated as a lucid introduction to a fundamental style of American culture, and also as a guide to film noir's heyday. Ultimately, though, as the work of a bold talent adeptly manipulating poetic cadence and metaphor, it is itself a superb aesthetic artifact.