Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2026

Abstract

This thesis examines the representation of two forms of urban peripherality, i.e. city periphery and peripheral city, in selected noir narratives from two Akashic short story collections, Brooklyn Noir (2004), edited by Tim McLoughlin, and Mumbai Noir (2012), edited by Altaf Tyrewala. The study investigates these representations to attempt forming a broader conceptualisation of urban peripherality that goes beyond the conventional Western one, which foregrounds the geographical divides as identifying features between urban centre and periphery. The thesis draws on the urban conceptual framework to conduct a close reading of the spatial, cultural, and social representations of urban peripheries within the selected texts. Additionally, this thesis uses Gérard Genette’s narratological theory to closely examine the narrative techniques employed in the short stories to depict the urban environment and those who experience it. Findings reveal that the concept of urban peripherality cannot be limited to the Western stereotypical geographical boundaries to mark the difference between the centre and the periphery. Instead, the provided representations written by local writers reveal that urban peripheries are dynamic spaces shaped by numerous cultural, social, and personal dimensions. These dimensions reconstruct both Brooklyn, traditionally regarded as a periphery within the established centre, and Mumbai, a typical Southern global periphery, as fluid spaces that do not fit in the traditional centre/periphery dichotomy. These results contribute to the growing body of scholarship which focuses on various urban spaces outside the usual literary canon. It also offers a profound understanding of peripherality in a way that allows local voices to narrate their own urban experience without the Western presumptions imposed on them.

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