Nightmare Alley
by William Lindsay Greshamliterary work· published 1946
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Nightmare Alley is a novel by American writer William Lindsay Gresham, published in 1946. It is a study of the depths of show business and its immoral inhabitants—the dark, shadowy world of a second-rate carnival filled with hustlers, scheming grifters, and Machiavellian femmes fatales. Gresham attributed the origin of Nightmare Alley to conversations he had with a former carnival worker while they were both serving as volunteers with the Loyalist forces in the Spanish Civil War. Gresham wrote the novel, his first, while working as an editor for a "true crime", pulp magazine in New York City during the 1940s. He outlined the plot and wrote the first six chapters over a period of two years, then finished the book in four months. Each chapter is represented by a different Tarot card.
Adaptations (2)
Nightmare Alley has been adapted into 2 films, from 1947 to 2021.
Nightmare Alley1947 · film · 110 min · dir. Edmund Goulding · IMDb ↗A roustabout joins a traveling carny and schemes to figure out the mind-reading act of Mademoiselle Zeena and her alcoholic husband.
Nightmare Alley2021 · film · 150 min · dir. Guillermo del Toro · IMDb ↗An ambitious carnival man with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychologist who is even more dangerous than he is.
