The Narrative Features In The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep, demonstrating the emergence of the hard-boiled detective literature, is the first novel by Raymond Chandler. Through Philip Marlowe, the protagonist, it describes a story of blackmail, disappearance and murder. At the same time, The Big Sleep sets the example for much of the following urban crime fiction and many modern Hollywood thrillers. Since its publication in 1939, literary critics have paid excessive attention to its thematic meaning. What makes it go through several decades, however, is the unique way of narration. As a piece of narrative art, the narrative features of time and space in The Big Sleep are very eminent.This thesis attempts to analyze the narrative features in The Big Sleep and probes into their effects by application of narratological theories. It is comprised of three chapters.Chapter One explores the sense of suspense created by non-linear narrative time, which consists of three ways: external focalization, analepsis and interlocking narration.Chapter Two illustrates three movements between narrative time and story time in the novel: narrative time= story time, narrative time>story time and ceasing of story time. Different narrative paces generate different kinds of mood.Chapter Three discusses the dark atmosphere from the view of narrative space. The novel employs three techniques: organic combination of synchronic space and diachronic space, irony through textual space, and foreshadowing by recurrent topographical space. All these indicate that the “American Dream” perishes.Narrative time and narrative space contribute to the success of The Big Sleep. And Raymond Chandler uses various narrative skills to endow the work with the depth of thought and the value of art. In the field of American detective fiction, few writers have come close to rivaling Raymond Chandler. Because of Raymond Chandler, American detective fiction steered into a new period.