Nightmare Alley

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Nightmare Alley
US paperback edition cover
Author William Lindsay Gresham
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher Rinehart and Company
Released 1946
Media Type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN NA
This article is about the 1946 novel. For the 1947 film, see Nightmare Alley (1947 film).

Nightmare Alley is a novel by William Lindsay Gresham. It is a study of the lowest depths of showbiz and its sleazy inhabitants- the dark, shadowy world of a second rate carnival filled with hustlers, scheming grifters, and Machiavellian femme fatales.

[edit] Plot introduction

William Lindsay 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.

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Nightmare Alley was also produced as a film noir motion picture starring Tyrone Power in 1947.

A graphic novel adaptation of the novel was produced by underground cartoonist Spain Rodriguez.