The Face on the Cutting-Room Floor

About This Book

Published in 1937, The Face on the Cutting-Room Floor is a crime novel by Ernest Borneman (1915–1995), written under the pseudonym Cameron McCabe when the author was only twenty-one. The novel begins as a conventional murder mystery set in a London film studio, then progressively deconstructs itself: the second half consists of a critical essay analyzing the first half, the author's identity becomes unstable, and the boundaries between fiction and criticism dissolve. It has been called one of the most innovative detective novels ever written and a precursor to postmodernist fiction. Borneman later became known as an anthropologist, filmmaker, and jazz critic.

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