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Mapping Los Angeles: Spatial Representations of the Margin in Fiction

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Mapping Los Angeles: Spatial Representations of the Margin in Fiction Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English 8-7-2018 Mapping Los Angeles: Spatial Representations of the Margin in Fiction Anna Barattin Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Recommended Citation Barattin, Anna, "Mapping Los Angeles: Spatial Representations of the Margin in Fiction." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2018. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/206 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MAPPING LOS ANGELES: SPATIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE MARGIN IN FICTION by ANNA BARATTIN Under the Direction of Audrey Goodman, PhD ABSTRACT The geocentric study of literature has often been fixed with canonical western texts. New approaches to spatial literary interpretations, however, invite the incorporation of marginality in the study of fiction, suggesting that the margin is a necessary component of the whole, thus challenging physical and metaphorical notions of centrality. Mapping Los Angeles: Spatial Representations of the Margin in Fiction examines four Los Angeles novels that in different ways establish the social significance of concepts such as place, location, landscape, architecture, environment, home, city, region, territory, and geography. This dissertation argues that a localized understanding of the urban literary model can serve a larger frame of reference for a global interpretation of the non-conformative text. Organized chronologically, Mapping Los Angeles combines the study of geography with historical perspectives. Starting in the modernist period, my project defines some of the crucial elements in reference to the multiethnic urban dimension, such as city structure and space organization in John Fante’s Ask the Dust. In a similar fashion, the second chapter takes into consideration the place occupied by the main character of Joan Didion’s Play It as It Lays, reflecting on female perspectives and the balance between the agency of nature and the one of humans, between private and public spaces. The third chapter focuses on Karen Tei Yamashita’s Tropic of Orange and identifies how elements such as technology, change in infrastructure, and international goods transportation reshape the idea of geography and temporality, while the fourth chapter, examining Octavia Butler’s Parable of The Sower, considers how climate change and social instability affect the way the environment is inhabited. A coda examines the value of the geocentric approach in the analysis of non-conformative literature. INDEX WORDS: Los Angeles, Space, Maps, Geocentrism, Geocriticism, Ecocentrism, Spatiality, John Fante, Joan Didion, Karen Tei Yamashita, Octavia E. Butler, Edward Soja, David Harvey, Thirdspace, Ask the Dust, Play It as It Lays, Tropic of Orange, Parable of the Sower, Multiethnic Literature, Non-Conformative Literature, Twentieth Century Literature, Southwestern Literature, American Literature. MAPPING LOS ANGELES: SPATIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE MARGIN IN FICTION by ANNA BARATTIN A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2018 Copyright by Anna Barattin 2018 MAPPING LOS ANGELES: SPATIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE MARGIN IN FICTION by ANNA BARATTIN Committee Chair: Audrey Goodman Committee: Christopher Kocela Gina Caison Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University August 2018 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A PhD is for the most part a solitary endeavor, especially in the last phases of dissertation writing. Besides sporadic visits from my husband, my pets, and the occasional phone interruption, my daily experience with this project has been focused on my books, my computer, and myself. There are, however, a few people I would like to acknowledge, because their insight on my work has been fundamental in the completion of this study. First of all, I would like to thank my advisor, Audrey Goodman, who has been my mentor, guide, and support since my arrival in the United States. She introduced me to alternative ways of looking at American canonical literature, and for this I will be forever grateful. I want acknowledge the help I received from the rest of my committee, Christopher Kocela and Gina Caison, who during the past year have been reading and responding to my chapters with invaluable knowledge and insight. I would like to express my gratitude to my friend and colleague, Josh Privett, for both the feedback on my writing and the encouragement he demonstrated toward my research, to my friend, Graziano Meneghin, for his graphic advice and for our transatlantic conversations about space. Mapping Los Angeles wouldn’t have been possible without the support and patience of my husband, Peter Furgiuele, who has been my side throughout this journey. I thank Peggy and Sam Furgiuele for their help with map hunting and for their encouragement. Lastly, I would like to thank my parents, Marilena Piovesan and Giovanni Barattin, for offering all the strength and assistance a daughter could hope for. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................... IV LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... VIII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................ IX 1 INTRODUCTION: A GEOCENTRIC UNDERSTANDING OF LOS ANGELES IN FICTION .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Chapter Division and Structural Organization ............................................. 9 1.2 Arturo’s Los Angeles: Real and Imagined Spaces in John Fante’s Ask the Dust ........................................................................................................................... 10 1.3 The Four Ecologies of Maria Wyeth: Body and Space in Joan Didion’s Play It as It Lays ....................................................................................................................... 11 1.4 Socio-Historical Remapping of Space in Karen Tei Yamashita’s Tropic of Orange ........................................................................................................................... 12 1.5 Topography of a Private Dystopia: Crossing Borders in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower ................................................................................................. 13 1.6 Coda ................................................................................................................. 14 2 CHAPTER ONE: ARTURO’S LOS ANGELES: REAL AND IMAGINED SPACES IN JOHN FANTE’S ASK THE DUST ..................................................................... 15 2.1 Imposing a Center: Bunker Hill .................................................................... 22 2.2 Ethnicity and Personal Space ........................................................................ 31 2.3 Camilla—Towards the Outskirts of Town ................................................... 47 vi 2.4 The Narration within the Narration—Fiction as Thirdspace..................... 56 2.5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 62 3 CHAPTER TWO: THE FOUR ECOLOGIES OF MARIA WYETH: BODY AND SPACE IN JOAN DIDION’S PLAY IT AS IT LAYS ..................................................... 65 3.1 The Freeway .................................................................................................... 77 3.2 The Domestic ................................................................................................... 87 3.3 The Outside...................................................................................................... 98 3.4 The Hospital .................................................................................................. 102 3.5 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 109 4 CHAPTER THREE: SOCIO-HISTORICAL REMAPPING OF SPACE IN KAREN TEI YAMASHITA’S TROPIC OF ORANGE ......................................................... 111 4.1 Not Too Far From Mazatlán ........................................................................ 119 4.2 Tijuana via Singapore................................................................................... 125 4.3 Hollywood and The World Wide Web ........................................................ 132 4.4 This Old Hood ............................................................................................... 136 4.5 The Freeway Canyon .................................................................................... 141 4.6 Skirting Downtown ....................................................................................... 144 4.7 On the Tropic ................................................................................................ 147 4.8 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 151 vii 5 CHAPTER FOUR: TOPOGRAPHY OF A
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