It's hard to be a saint in the city: notions of city in the Rebus novels of Ian Rankin

Ward, Christopher J. (2010) It's hard to be a saint in the city: notions of city in the Rebus novels of Ian Rankin. MPhil(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis contends that within the Rebus series of detective novels by Ian Rankin, we find a unique depiction of Edinburgh: one that is equally indebted to American crime fiction and to previous fictional portrayals of the city in Scottish literature. The first chapter takes as a case study Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep", and uses it to draw comparisons between Rankin's Edinburgh and similar methods of writing about city in American crime fiction, particularly the 'hard-boiled' strain that emerged in the 1930s. The second chapter draws upon similarities between the Edinburgh of the Rebus novels and that of Rankin's primary Scottish influences - namely, Muriel Spark's "The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie" and Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde" - to establish some kind of continuity in how the city is portrayed across centuries. The third and final chapter focuses specifically upon Rankin's combination of these seemingly disparate elements to create his own idiosyncratic take on Edinburgh, with close readings of the Rebus novels "Hide & Seek", "Set In Darkness" and "Exit Music".

• Item Type: Thesis (MPhil(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Keywords: Ian Rankin, Rebus, Edinburgh, crime fiction, detective fiction, Scottish crime fiction, city fiction, Raymond Chandler, Muriel Spark, Robert Louis Stevenson, Hide & Seek, Set in Darkness, Exit Music, The Big Sleep, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > PR English literature
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > Scottish Literature
• Supervisor's Name: McGuire, Dr. Matthew
• Date of Award: 2010
• Depositing User: Mr Christopher J Ward
• Unique ID: glathesis:2010-1865
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 01 Jun 2010
• Last Modified: 03 Apr 2015 10:04
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/1865