| Popis: |
This dissertation explores spatio-temporal shifts in twenty-first century French crime narratives, through a series of close readings of contemporary crime films, television, literature, and comics. The works examined rely on the formal properties of the policier genre but adapt its standard conventions, most notably with deviations in the use and function of space. In this dissertation, I demonstrate that the modern policier is one that embraces its spatio-temporal, social, and generic non-fixity. The textual/visual constructions of many hyper-contemporary crime narratives contain multiple modes of decomposition within: a decentralization of space, which moves the action away from the genre’s traditionally urban location to boundless rural spaces and border zones; a de-concentration of the policier genre, through the incorporation of tropes from other literary styles and works; and a devolution of social cohesion and community identity in the narratives. Chapter 1 examines works where historic references and urban legends of the 19th century fantastique literary genre unfold in modern rural locations. The past and the present converge to problematize modern ideals, identity, and community unity in rural spaces where reason is pitted against the supernatural. In Chapter 2, the crime narrative location is again shifted, this time from urban cities to rural, self-policing communities. Highly stylized settings and geometric architectures delineate restricted zones, and the forbidden forest, a staple “scene of the crime” in classic fairy tales, takes on the sinister and foreboding properties of a primal danger zone. These rural spaces remain outside of the law and untouchable to a classic detective figure, as communities reject patriarchal penetration of marginalized zones. Chapter 3 assesses transitional spaces in French adaptations of international crime fiction works. Border spaces and boundaries become fluid in reinterpretations of other nations’ famous crime fiction styles (such as the American “Hardboiled” crime novels, British police procedurals, and the Swedish “Scandinoir”). In each of these chapters, I engage with a constellation of spatial, genre, literary, and film/media theories to address how space within the narrative and the narrative form itself are impacted by the incorporation of other generic properties; how the classic role of the detective is transformed by these spatial turns; and how these shifts are in part driven by socio-political realities in the search for a “modern French identity.” |
