On Literary Space

The broad understanding of so-called literary space is the particular physical space or spiritual space that the human race involved itself in literary activities. The narrow understanding is the spiritual space that literary texts present with literary language narration. This dissertation takes the narrow notion.The concept of literary space was first inspired by contemporary space theory. The space theory of which contemporary neo-Marxist scholars’ research is specific representation argues that space is not a "container" filled with all things. It is not just a natural space loaded with the evolution of material production and social relations either. It is to be produced itself, especially in contemporary capitalist production relations, space has become a production. It has been both involved in the production of surplus value, but also as a product to be consumed. From this perspective, the existence of space is obvious in both the actual state of literary texts existence and the process of their acceptance. The creation of any literary texts is essentially the creation of literary space. Any story told in literary discourse actually happened in the story of literary space, while the process of literary texts acceptance is actually the process of literary space consumption.Second, the concept of literary space is put forward to call more literature research attention onto spatial factors. Previous literature research values temporality, focusing on the historical analysis of literary phenomena. Previous study of literary theory concerns the origin and the development of literature as well as the change of literary ideology, ignoring the impact of various trends in different spatial regions on literature activities. In terms of creators, previous literature research concerned writer’s life history, creating process and style changes, ignoring the influence of living environment, local folk scenery and cultural practices on writers’. In terms of research on specific text, previous literature research were immersed in the analysis of plots, the logic of characters personality change and the timing of narration, while neglecting the integrity of literary text as a literary space and the two-way interaction between plots and the formation of characters’personality. A perspective based on space helps to enrich the content of literary studies.This dissertation consists of five chapters. The introduction gives general introduction to current literary space research. The first chapter, from the perspective of philosophy, describes the previous research on space, the connotation and typical characteristics of literary space, and the relationship between literature and space. The second chapter analyzes briefly the tool that shapes literature space—literary language. Chapter three analyzes several kinds of literary space, especially consumption patterns of literary space. The fourth chapter studies and sorts out the space nature of non-mainstream literature. The fifth chapter takes Wang Shuo and Chili’s works as examples, analyzing the direct representation of literary space as an ideological space. The epilogue illuminates the strategies that should be taken in constructing literary space in the trend of globalization.