Journal article
The private eye as urbane
M / C Journal, Vol.5(2)
2002
Abstract
It is in such a city, of the derelict and the displaced, that film-goers once encountered the private eye. And while we recognise the private eye as naturally urban, the 'hard-boiled' guys of Chandler, David Goodis and their imitators rarely appeal as urbane. Dictionary advice offers a neatly-plotted resolution to such a puzzle, informing us that 'urbane' is dependent on 'urban' in the manner that 'humane' is connected unavoidably to 'human'. As with much of the information scattered across a mystery narrative, such deduction may be too neat. The varying linkages of 'urban' and 'urbane' can be queried in that classic tale of the twentieth-century city, the detective story. In what sense is the detective, as urbane male hero, dependent on the urban world in which he moves?
Details
- Title
- The private eye as urbane
- Authors
- Chris McConville (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
- Publication details
- M / C Journal, Vol.5(2)
- Publisher
- University of Queensland, Media and Cultural Studies Centre
- Date published
- 2002
- DOI
- 10.5204/mcj.1949
- ISSN
- 1441-2616; 1441-2616
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2002 The Authors. All articles published in M/C Journal are published under a Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial - No Derivatives 3.0 Licence. This published version is reporduced in accordance with this policy.
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99449744202621
- Output Type
- Journal article
- Research Statement
- false
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