| A textual zone is created as an alternative world or microcosmic representation of the novel as a whole in the work of three contemporary American writers examined here. These zones are central to the narrative, not only because they occupy the literal center of these novels in a physical sense, but vital and potentially transforming events occur here. In William Burroughs' Naked Lunch (1959) this alternative world is formed in the "Interzone" portion of the novel; in Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow (1973), this space is actually called "The Zone"; while in Don DeLillo's White Noise (1984), the zone is an abstraction created by the Airborne Toxic Event. The central character of each novel must successfully negotiate this zone---in both physical and epistemological terms---in order to complete the narrative. The approach used here combines theories derived from literary, architectural, and philosophical practices which are used in conjunction with close textual reading. This systematic approach---designated "architectonics"---is utilized to examine the nature, construction, and implications of the zone as a coherent typology. The use of this term is consciously intended to call upon and recognize its numerous semantic possibilities. The implications of architectonic analysis accentuate the function of epistemological exploration and relative ontological freedom in narrative, and suggests that some postmodern/post-structural theories may have by-passed important considerations knowledge and knowing have to offer literary analysis. |
