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雷蒙‧錢德勒為冷硬派偵探小說的開山始祖之一，其文學地位卻不限於通俗小說大家。 其簡潔有力的文學筆觸及對於現代美國社會的深刻批判，讓他名列當代美國代表作家之列。 在錢德勒的筆觸下，洛杉磯城被深切刻畫成重要性不亞於偵探的重要主角。 故此，我在本論文將探討錢德勒對於洛杉磯身為美國現代大城的空間呈現，試圖找出其再現對於美國城市文學與偵探小說的積極影響。 在第二至第四章的本文中，第二章處理私家偵探與其出沒的洛杉磯之間的關係。 我發現漫遊者的概念也可被應用在冷硬派私家偵探的明查暗訪，這兩者在顯示現代城市的現代性方面，都是代表性的謀介。 透過漫遊者偵探的私家之眼，真實與想像的洛杉磯同時歷歷在目，而勒婓伏爾與索雅的空間理論為理解錢德勒筆下洛杉磯真實與想像的城市空間再現的一大利器。 故此，第三章運用索雅的第三空間概念來探討錢德勒的空間再現，發現其筆下墮落之城的種種暗黑角落，都是第三空間的再現，因為它們都顯現一種被宰制的空間呈現，別同於洛杉磯被大力推銷為夢想之城的想像空間。 第四章處理另一個被忽視但重要的第三空間。 藉由私家偵探親身探索洛杉磯城中不同族群的空間，我發現這些空間也是另一種第三空間的呈現，因為這些空間亦屬於被宰制壓迫的空間，而錢德勒對於洛杉磯城的空間再現並未遺忘這些他者族群被壓迫的空間，故此更能證明錢德勒不愧為刻畫現代化美國社會的文學大師。 / Raymond Chandler is a prestigious detective-story writer and the founding father of the hard-boiled detective fiction school, but he is not limited to this sub-genre of the crime fiction. His laconic style and the socially critical depiction of Los Angeles elevates him as a great writer in literature, high-brow and low-brow. Los Angeles city in his depiction becomes another protagonist of Chandler’s Philip Marlowe stories. In this thesis, I attempt to adopt a spatial reading of the Los Angeles city he depicts, so as to explore the meanings of the real and imagined spaces and their possibilities of resistance for future interpretations. Besides the first chapter as the introduction and the last chapter as the conclusion, in Chapter Two, I will first compare the private detective to the flâneur, thereby discovering the contribution of these figures to the discovery and representation of modernity in modern cities. Furthermore, I will utilize Lefebvre’s and Soja’s trialectics of spatiality to examine the real and imagined spaces in Chandler’s novels. By doing so, in Chapter Three I argue that Chandler’s vivid spatial representations of Los Angeles, especially the dark side of the city, are actually the real-and-imagined Thirdspace that represents the dominated spaces against the promotion of Los Angeles as a dream city. In Chapter Four, though Chandler’s spaces convincingly reflect the modernity of Los Angeles as a modern city, I further discover another possible site for the space of representation in his stories: the space of the racial Other. This discovery of another Thirdspace proves Chandler isn’t as much a racist as alleged, and it is the counter-space that provides the possibility of resistance for many future hard-boiled detective fiction writers of different ethnicities, and this can explain why Chandler’s hard-boiled detective has been massively appropriated.

This dissertation aims to position train surfing as a visual spectacle that is practised by Sowetan train surfers within the context of post-authoritarian Johannesburg. The author argues that train surfing is a visual and spatial phenomenon that is theoretically under-researched. As such, this study aims to decode seven train surfing videos to establish what train surfing looks like, where train surfing occurs and why individuals participate in such a high risk activity. This study, furthermore, aims to frame train surfing as a spectacle by investigating the similarities between train surfing and rites of passage (initiation rites). The author also regards train surfing as a very specific form of storytelling. The narratives conveyed in the seven videos are, therefore, interpreted to establish that train surfing is practised to ‘voice’ fatalistic feelings, societal as well as individual crises. After establishing the visual aspects of train surfing, the author focuses on the spatial context of train surfing. Johannesburg is described as both an authoritarian and post-authoritarian construct by tracing the spatial and political history of the city. When the discussion turns to the post-authoritarian city, townships and squatter settlements are analysed as being both marginal and hybrid spaces. It is argued that townships are marginal spaces due to their location, they are inhabited by the underclass and they are formed by processes of capitalism and urbanisation, and as a result of these factors, township residents might have fatalistic mindsets (Gulick 1989). The author, however, contends that township space is an ambivalent construct, and as such, it can also be read as hybrid space. Here, hybrid space is interpreted as a platform from which township residents can resist oppressing spatial and political ideologies. In this context, train surfing is regarded as one way in which train surfers use hybrid space to express tactics of resistance. After establishing the spatial context of train surfing, the socio-economic and material living conditions of train surfers are investigated. The discussion firstly, explores the underclass, as theorised by Jencks and Peterson (1990), and thereafter highlights why train surfers can be classified as being part of this sub-category. It is, furthermore, argued that Sowetan train surfers are part of a new lost generation due to high unemployment rates, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and bleak future outlooks. The author aims to establish that, as a result of their socio-economic status and material living conditions, train surfers are fatalistic, and practice an extreme activity to exert control over one area of their lives, namely their bodies. Lastly, the dissertation aims to explore train surfing as being both a risk-taking activity and a new spatial practice. The dynamics of adolescent risk-taking behaviour is explored by emphasising the psychological motivations behind high risk activities. The author argues that alienating space can be regarded as an additional factor that usher adolescents into risk-taking activities. As such, the place(s) and space(s) inhabited by train surfers, namely Johannesburg, Soweto and township train stations, are discussed as alienating spaces. Moreover, it is argued that alienating spaces create opportunities for resistance (following the power-resistance dialectic inherent to space), and as such, train surfing is interpreted as a de-alienating spatial practice that enables the marginalised train surfer to exert control over his surroundings. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Visual Arts / unrestricted