![]() This seedy summit set the tone for the frazzled and fractured frisson that is our nation today."īesides his memorable voice, Otash is, surprisingly, a likeable character. It's a colossal convergence of the gilded and gorgeous, the defiled and demented, the lurid and the low-down. "It's the egalitarian epicenter of postwar America. Here's how Otash describes the scene of a porn movie premier for Hollywood movers and shakers: It also contextualizes 1950s Hollyweird in full sin-emascope and nails the political gestalt of the decade, especially in LA. Fast, snappy, and with a level of alliteration that dances between the brilliant and the ridiculous, Otash's voice is unlike anything else in contemporary fiction. There are many superb elements here, but Otash's voice is what makes Widespread Panic wildly entertaining and memorable. More than a single plot, Widespread Panic packs the most important events Otash was involved in, exposing the best and worst of his life in a rhizomatic, paranoid tale that blends fact and fiction while exposing the darkest dealings of the magazine, the Hollywood elite, the FBI, and the LAPD.įast, snappy, and with a level of alliteration that dances between the brilliant and the ridiculous, Otash's voice is unlike anything else in contemporary fiction. Ellroy brings them all to the page with a unique voice and mashes them into an uproarious, hyperviolent, sleazy narrative about Reds, feds, drugs, panty raids, dirty movies, secret rendezvouses, political turmoil, and shady pasts. Kennedy, Liz Taylor, Ingrid Bergman, John Wayne, Burt Lancaster, Alfred Hitchcock, and James Dean, to name a few. "Baby, it's time to CONFESS." Thus begins Otash's recount of his time with Confidential and the series of people he interacted with, knew dark secrets about, protected, and blackmailed, and it's an impressive list: Paul Newman, Ava Gardner, Marlon Brando, Senator John F. Movie Interviews Watch This: Crime Writer James Ellroy Recommends - What Else? - Noir Films Otash was running the show, and Widespread Panic chronicles his rise and eventual fall as he becomes an informant while following a series of plots that include finding Rock Hudson a fake wife to hide his homosexuality and covering Kennedy's misdeeds to protect his political career. Kennedy.Ĭonfidential was the premier scandalous rag of its time, and appearing on its pages was a nightmare for many celebrities and politicians. An ex-cop who became a private investigator and then quickly morphed into the beating heart of Confidential magazine, Otash had Hollywood in his pocket and was involved in secrets, rackets, and blackmail with everyone from James Dean - who worked for him for a while - to Senator John F. And that was in real life, not just in Ellroy's fictionalized account of Otash's escapades, which including having an (in)famous photo of Marlon Brando in a very compromising position. In 1950's LA, Freddy Otash was the man to know and the man who knew it all, and he had photos and audio of everything. James Ellroy's Widespread Panic is quintessential Ellroy, but with enough alliteration, Hollyweird flavor, booze, distressed damsels, communist conspiracies, and extortion to make this the most Ellroy novel he's ever written. Ĭurrent issues of the journal are available electronically through Project MUSE earlier issues can be found through JSTOR.The Demon Dog of Crime Fiction is back, and this time around it's more boocoo bad business, crooked cops, pervs, prowlers, and putzo politicians than ever, and that's saying a lot. Román de la Campa, Barbara Fuchs, Yolanda Martinez San Miguel, Jorge Salessi and Michael Solomon have also served as editors in the past. ![]() ![]() Sebold has been the longest-serving editor, having directed the journal continuously for over twenty-nine years. Professor López returned to this position in 2019 having served earlier as General Editor of the journal between 19. ![]() and Lenore R Williams Professor of Romance Languages at the University of Pennsylvania. The current general editor is Professor Ignacio Javier López, the Edwin B. ![]() It is available online through Project MUSE and JSTOR. The journal is published quarterly by the University of Pennsylvania Press. Since its creation the journal has been edited by the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Pennsylvania. The journal has published continuously since 1933 when it was created to replace the French journal Revue Hispanique that had just stopped publication. Published in Philadelphia, the Hispanic Review is the oldest peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to research in Hispanic, Catalan and Luso-Brazilian literature and culture published in North America. ![]()
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