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They Shoot Horses Don't They? Midnight Classics Horace McCoy 9781852424015 Books

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They Shoot Horses Don't They? Midnight Classics Horace McCoy 9781852424015 Books

In its portrayal of a squalid dance marathon in Depression-era Los Angeles, Horace McCoy's (1897 -- 1955) short 1935 novel, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" evokes a strong sense of futility, meaninglessness, and desperation. The novel is one of the most deeply pessimistic and troubling works in American literature.

The book has a frame story that surrounds the nightmarish marathon. McCoy leaves no doubt about the outcome. A young man, Robert Syverten, has been tried and convicted of first degree murder for the killing of Gloria Beatty. The Judge is in the process of sentencing Robert to death. As the Judge does so, Robert recounts the events which led to his meeting Gloria, to their participation in the marathon, and to her shooting at the end of the story. Robert tells the story throughout in his own voice.

Robert and Gloria are loners and drifters who meet by chance on Hollywood streets after many failed attempts to secure jobs as extras in the movies. Robert begins rather optimistically with goals of becoming a director. Even late in the novel, he is able to articulate a vision of the kind of realistic films he dreams of making:

"Well, like a two-or three-reel short. What a junkman does all day, or the life of an ordinary man -- you know, who makes thirty dollars a week and has to raise kids and buy a home and a car and a radio-- the kind of guy bill collectors are always after. Something different, with camera angles to help tell the story--".

Gloria is a runaway from a hard life in west Texas where she has already attempted suicide. She is harsh, bitter and violent towards people and towards life and towards herself and says she wants to die. Gloria persuades Robert to enter a dance marathon held in an old warehouse on a pier which offers a $1,000 prize.

The marathon becomes a metaphor for futility and for exploitation. The couples, (Robert and Gloria are "no. 22"), are forced to dance 150 minutes followed by 10 minute breaks with short times for sleep. During this time they are fed and housed and a crowd cheers and eggs them on. Days and weeks drag on and the pace is exhausting and brutal. The marathon is tawdry in the extreme as the promoters, for example, arrange a public marriage of one couple for the edification of the spectators. The marathon inexorably attracts violence. One of the contestants is an escaped murderer. During the course of the event, there are several shootings and stabbings as the tension builds. The promoter, a man named Socks, carries a blackjack which he uses freely upon the participants and others. One of Sock's floor manager preys sexually upon the young women in the contest. Every evening the participants are forced to run a long, punishing race called the "derby" for the spectators' amusement which results in illness and exhaustion. Gloria describes the marathon as a "merry go round" which lets its hapless participants off at the same point at which they began. The marathon becomes a symbol of the Depression and even more broadly a symbol of meaningless effort and suffering.

The story builds to show Gloria's desire for death and Robert's role, on a dark lonely pier, which leads to his own conviction and death. The book is powerful and highly disturbing. The impression is one of waste.

Jane Fonda starred in a famous movie adaptation of McCoy's novel. I was reminded of another novel published at about the same time as McCoy's, the "Studs Lonigan" trilogy by James T. Farrell James T Farrell: Studs Lonigan a Trilogy (Library of America) which also includes an extended description of a dance marathon. Farrell's trilogy focuses on the life of a poor boy in the Chicago slums and does not develop the marathon in the same way as does McCoy. "They Shoot Horses, Don't They"? is available in the edition reviewed here on in an excellent collection of noir literature from the 1930's and 40's published by the Library of America. Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s: The Postman Always Rings Twice / They Shoot Horses, Don't They? / Thieves Like Us / The Big Clock / ... a Dead Man (Library of America) (Vol 1) This is an important book with a dark unedifying vision.

Robin Friedman


Tags : They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (Midnight Classics) [Horace McCoy] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <DIV>The marathon dance craze flourished during the 1930s, but the underside was a competition and violence unknown to most ballrooms--a dark side that Horace McCoy's classic American novel powerfully captures. Were it not in its physical details so carefully documented,Horace McCoy,They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (Midnight Classics),Serpent's Tail,185242401X,Mystery & Detective - General,20TH CENTURY AMERICAN NOVEL AND SHORT STORY,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction Mystery & Detective General,Fiction-Mystery & Detective,GENERAL,General Adult,Great BritainBritish Isles,Latin,Literary,Modern fiction,MysterySuspense

They Shoot Horses Don't They? Midnight Classics Horace McCoy 9781852424015 Books Reviews

I've heard about this book for ages! Didn't see the movie....it looked depressing at the time. Little did I know that there were other books even MORE depressing- like The Road. Anyway, back to this one.

The time is the Depression in America, and the suckers at the bottom of the money pile - the rest of us- are trying to make a buck by being contestants in marathon dancing - another reason I didn't see the movie, because I imagined 2 hours of people dancing and that turned me off. But this story has so much more in it. It is a master of cynicism about celebrity and advertising and show "hype". I could see some of the origins of how celebrity and hype have taken hold of our psyches.

The premise is clever- starting at the end and every chapter bringing us from the beginning [or middle really] back up to the beginning of the story which is the end really. Very clever.
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They is a novel that speaks to our times we are inundated with reality shows, where fame and fortune, tragedy and despair are brought to us on a whim and often in the public eye. The public’s livelihoods and fates are broadcast for the world to see, and this sells.

The basis for this story is concerning the promotion of a dance marathon during the Great Depression. The winner is promised cash and free food. And, unlike the many reality shows we see today, there is a realness and desperation to this contest that is quite grotesque, disturbing and bizarre.

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They is very existential; it has a deeper layer of meaning beyond its basis and simple plot. Desperate times call for desperate measures, even if it is in the form of a dance marathon.

There’s a seemingly trivial moment in this book when the narrator catches a glimpse of the sun outside and becomes enamored with the idea of being able to see it during the contest. I thought this a fitting moment in expressing one of the major themes. I think this reinforces the claustrophobic mood depicted in the dance; these contestants are in a “prison” that is this contest, confined to either enduring the race and trying to win the prize or retreating back to a harsh reality with their hopes dashed. The contest, in many ways, is the illusion and falsity of the American Dream. Illusion being that, it is a spectacle, a modern day gladiator fight barbaric, unhealthy, humiliating, sensationalist. Yet, it sells the promoters see at it as a cash grab, something to create public interest and sensationalism.

I thought this short work was beautifully assembled, alternating narrator perspective of the dance marathon with quick snapshots back to the courtroom and the sentencing. Although the prose is quite simple, the narrator gives insight into the events of the dance marathon and the character of Gloria, a nihilist if there ever was one, who sees through the façade and falsity of this marathon.

We know exactly how things end, and are told this within the first moments of the book. This is secondary; the understanding of how and why certain acts were carried out are the primary basis for the narrative.
In its portrayal of a squalid dance marathon in Depression-era Los Angeles, Horace McCoy's (1897 -- 1955) short 1935 novel, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" evokes a strong sense of futility, meaninglessness, and desperation. The novel is one of the most deeply pessimistic and troubling works in American literature.

The book has a frame story that surrounds the nightmarish marathon. McCoy leaves no doubt about the outcome. A young man, Robert Syverten, has been tried and convicted of first degree murder for the killing of Gloria Beatty. The Judge is in the process of sentencing Robert to death. As the Judge does so, Robert recounts the events which led to his meeting Gloria, to their participation in the marathon, and to her shooting at the end of the story. Robert tells the story throughout in his own voice.

Robert and Gloria are loners and drifters who meet by chance on Hollywood streets after many failed attempts to secure jobs as extras in the movies. Robert begins rather optimistically with goals of becoming a director. Even late in the novel, he is able to articulate a vision of the kind of realistic films he dreams of making

"Well, like a two-or three-reel short. What a junkman does all day, or the life of an ordinary man -- you know, who makes thirty dollars a week and has to raise kids and buy a home and a car and a radio-- the kind of guy bill collectors are always after. Something different, with camera angles to help tell the story--".

Gloria is a runaway from a hard life in west Texas where she has already attempted suicide. She is harsh, bitter and violent towards people and towards life and towards herself and says she wants to die. Gloria persuades Robert to enter a dance marathon held in an old warehouse on a pier which offers a $1,000 prize.

The marathon becomes a metaphor for futility and for exploitation. The couples, (Robert and Gloria are "no. 22"), are forced to dance 150 minutes followed by 10 minute breaks with short times for sleep. During this time they are fed and housed and a crowd cheers and eggs them on. Days and weeks drag on and the pace is exhausting and brutal. The marathon is tawdry in the extreme as the promoters, for example, arrange a public marriage of one couple for the edification of the spectators. The marathon inexorably attracts violence. One of the contestants is an escaped murderer. During the course of the event, there are several shootings and stabbings as the tension builds. The promoter, a man named Socks, carries a blackjack which he uses freely upon the participants and others. One of Sock's floor manager preys sexually upon the young women in the contest. Every evening the participants are forced to run a long, punishing race called the "derby" for the spectators' amusement which results in illness and exhaustion. Gloria describes the marathon as a "merry go round" which lets its hapless participants off at the same point at which they began. The marathon becomes a symbol of the Depression and even more broadly a symbol of meaningless effort and suffering.

The story builds to show Gloria's desire for death and Robert's role, on a dark lonely pier, which leads to his own conviction and death. The book is powerful and highly disturbing. The impression is one of waste.

Jane Fonda starred in a famous movie adaptation of McCoy's novel. I was reminded of another novel published at about the same time as McCoy's, the "Studs Lonigan" trilogy by James T. Farrell James T Farrell Studs Lonigan a Trilogy (Library of America) which also includes an extended description of a dance marathon. Farrell's trilogy focuses on the life of a poor boy in the Chicago slums and does not develop the marathon in the same way as does McCoy. "They Shoot Horses, Don't They"? is available in the edition reviewed here on in an excellent collection of noir literature from the 1930's and 40's published by the Library of America. Crime Novels American Noir of the 1930s and 40s The Postman Always Rings Twice / They Shoot Horses, Don't They? / Thieves Like Us / The Big Clock / ... a Dead Man (Library of America) (Vol 1) This is an important book with a dark unedifying vision.

Robin Friedman