JOURNAL ARTICLE

An "Unsettling" Novel: James M. Cain's The Cocktail Waitress.

  • Published In: CEA Critic, 2025, v. 87, n. 1. P. 55 1 of 3

  • Database: Humanities Source Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Snyder, Robert Lance 3 of 3

Abstract

This essay offers a close reading of Jame M. Cain's The Cocktail Waitress (2012). To frame an evaluation of 21-year-old Joan Medford, the narrator-protagonist of Cain's novel, it is useful to begin by surveying the author's reputation before outlining the compositional history of and initial response to the novel. What emerges is a sense of the ambiguity that is amplified in the narrative itself, to the point of constituting a case of hermeneutical undecidability. Medford's situation at the end of the text is left unresolved, a universal quality of human experience that makes this noir work of fiction compelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:CEA Critic. 2025/03, Vol. 87, Issue 1, p55
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:History
  • Publication Date:2025
  • ISSN:00078069
  • DOI:10.1353/cea.2025.a954081
  • Accession Number:184015979
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