Staying Up Much Too Late: Edward Hopper's Nighthawks and the Dark Side of the American Psyche

by Gordon Theisen

A fascinating study of Edward Hopper's iconic Nighthawks painting and its deep significance for understanding American culture.  Staying up Much Too Late discusses the painting Nighthawks and the painter Edward Hopper and their central importance to twentieth-century American culture. Topics include individualism, New York City, Arthur "Weegee" Fellig, diners, pornography, capitalism, advertising, cigarettes, American philosophy, World War II, Gravity's Rainbow , Blade Runner , Pulp Fiction , Russ Meyer, R. Crumb, David Lynch, and film noir What links these together is the painting's pessimistic take on American culture, which it also seems to epitomize. Despite its desolate feel, Nighthawks has become a familiar icon, reproduced on posters and postcards, in movies and on television shows. But Nighthawks is more than just a masterful painting. It is a portal into that rarely acknowledged but pervasive dark side of the American psyche.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Sociology, Psychology, Cultural Studies, Pop Culture

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 13, 2006

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Nighthawks, so I knew I had to read this book. The author draws a lot of fascinating conclusions based on the painting, and touches on a LOT of different facets of American society. I do feel the book is a little too scattered in places, but overall it was very good.

[lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Practically everybody in New York has half a mind to write a book -and does”
Groucho Marx

Er, except when they don't. Like Edward Hopper. Enter "Staying Up Much To Late: Edward Hopper's Nighthawks and the Dark Side of the American Psyche," by Gordon Theisen.

There's quite a lot about Edward Hopper, and I find it difficult to say much about any of it, in a way that resembles articulate speech. When I try, it usually comes out in something along the lines of, "there's this thing that he does with the light," or, "the people don't really talk to each other. Or look at eachother. Or even appear to be in the same physical space and area of time." But Theisen somehow seems to articulate every sentiment I have ever felt about Hopper, and I suspect most people who read the book will feel the same. There is a particular section where he discusses Nighthawks and the evolution of Jazz in NYC at time during which Hopper worked. He compares the cast in Nighthawks to a quartet. I'd include snippets, but it's just too good.

This book is a perfect complement to Gail Levin's "Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography."

From page 58

"While Parker (Charlie) says thing are all right no matter how bad they seem, Davis (Miles) says, 'Don't get too happy because as far as I am concerned something is most definitely not right, will never be right, and a whisper is as good as a shout because neither will make any difference."

wonderful, wonderful

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Theisen's interpretation of Hopper's painting seems excessively a projection of his pessimistic view that America has achieved the flip (dark) side of its Dream. As a cultural study, he achieves his aim of elucidating the dark side of American culture, but most of his descriptions of Nighthawks is based on treating it as an empty vessel that he can fill with whatever ill a particular chapter is about. Some of that could stick to this painting of a New York diner at night, of course, but using a phrase from another context, "where does it say that in the text?" or paint, as it were.

If you want to dig in to Hopper's paintings, this is not a book I'd recommend.

Does have an interesting section on Film Noir, however, and also a good take on the film Fat City (without somehow even mentioning Leonard Gardner's novel that the movie is based on, which is just bizarre because Theisen has a Ph.D in English Literature, so WTF on that.)

[Sorin Hadârcă · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is not bad essay, yet somehow Gordon Theisen seems to be all over the place and, besides Hopper's Nighthawks, there is machine age, consumerism, pornography, film noir and whatnot. In a nutshell, the gloom sets in because the American Dream is positive thinking against odds, God's men (and women) without belief. Not that there's a solution or something to be fixed. Just that life is a bit of both.

[Laura M.]

Read my review in Contrary Magazine:
http://www.contrarymagazine.com/Contr...

[CD · Rating 4 out of 5]

***5/25/2015*** 3rd re-read

[Frederic Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I learned from this book....I'm staying up way too late

[Susanne (Pages of Crime) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting points but I can't say that I agreed with his interpretation of the figures/characters in the painting.