On Narrative Features In Walter Mosley's Devil In A Blue Dress

Mainly based itself on the theory of narratology, this MA thesis aims to make an analysis of the hardboiled detective novel Devil in a Blue Dress by African American writer Walter Mosley. This study will analyze the novel from three aspects, namely the narrative conventions, narrative language and narrative situation.Ever since its birth in 1841 when Edgar Allan Poe published his first detective story, detective fiction has gone through a history of more than 160 years, from the early classic detective stories in the middle of the nineteenth century and the hardboiled detective novels which start to emerge in the late 1920s, to the newly-emerged schools of detective fiction after the Second World War, it constantly changes and subverts itself in forms and content over the course of its history. However, as one type of genre fiction, certain rules and regulations also have to be followed. Based upon the conventions shared by the early classic detective novels and the later hardboiled novels, this thesis analyzes the novel Devil in a Blue Dress from the following conventions in a detective story, namely the setting, detective, story, method of investigation and assistant of a detective. Through the analysis of narrative conventions, this thesis hopes to analyze and point out the heritage and inventions of this novel in terms of genre conventions of detective fiction.While incorporating the theory of narratology into the detailed study of language in the text, this paper also extends an analysis of the language deviation in the novel from three levels, graphology, grammar and semantics. On the level of graphology, the writer of the novel mainly deploys two kinds of dialects, the black vernacular and idiolect to achieve variation in language. On the level of grammar, its method of achieving deviation is through the repetition of certain vocabularies. And in terms of semantics, it mainly uses certain kinds of tropes and symbolism to reach the goal of deviation. Through the analysis of the language of the novel, this paper will illustrate to the readers that, as an African American novelist, Mosley not only shows his unique potentials in the expression of language, but highlights the themes of race and identity in the novel.From the perspective of narrative situation, this paper analyzes this novel from two points, narrative modes and perspectives. Firstly, Mosley uses descriptions of characters, scenes and direct speech of dialogues to achieve the effect of showing; Secondly, he also employs summary and comment to tell. Through the skillful switching between showing and telling, Mosley not only constructs a real Watts neighborhood in L.A in the late 1940s, but makes his characters become real. As for the two narrating selves, unlike other writers who usually make the narrating self take the lead in the process of narration, Mosley let the experiencing self take a dominant position in narration. This arrangement enables the readers to take an active role in participating in the process of the detective's investigation. In addition, Mosley intentionally makes the focus of narration switch from the experiencing self to the narrating self, the insertion of the narrating self in the normal flow of narration often provides the text with enough suspense. Through the constant change and overlapping of the narrating self and experiencing self, the writer of the novel pushes the art of the suspense in the novel to a new height.With people's change of view toward detective fiction, our attitude toward the study of this branch of culture also has to be changed. Instead of turning a blind eye, now we should lay more emphasis on the study of popular detective fiction. Moreover, the critical approaches, such as the theory of narratology, which is frequently applied to the study of other classic literature, should also be deployed in the study of detective fiction. This study will help us have a further change in our viewpoints of the so-called "low-brow" popular culture, and provide a referential research method for other forms of genre fictions.