UK Libraries’ Academic Liaison for Literature and Humanities, Peter Hesseldenz, contributed “Rock, Hard-Boiled: The Mekons and American Crime Fiction” in the newly published anthology, Lit-Rock: Literary Capital in Popular Music, edited by Ryan Hibbett, Associate Professor at Northern Illinois University.
“Writing this chapter brought together two of my favorite subjects - music and literature. It gave me the opportunity to completely bury myself in the works of my favorite band, the Mekons, and two of my favorite crime fiction writers, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler,” shared Hesseldenz about the project. "I had the experience of taking topics that I thought I knew a lot about and realizing that there was a whole lot more to learn."
A list of the alternative-rock songs Peter wrote about:
“Lit-Rock” showcases the story of rock music as less than a popular form but in opposition to a combination of high and low artforms in dialogue. It tracks the uses of literature helping to showcase collectively its fundamental role in the emergence of the “pop omnivore.”
Contributors for this book included scholars from around the globe. To learn more about the anthology and its contributors, visit https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/litrock-9781501354694/.
