On The Spatial Image Of John Banville’s Frames Trilogy

John Banville(1945—)is an Irish writer who is well-known in the world of literary circles.In an interview he won the Booker Prize in 2005,he said that the art study experience in his youth was a very good exercise for his writing.Because it tells me how to see the world in a detailed and focused way." As he said,the experience of painting art has had a profound impact on his literary creation,making his novels show distinctive spatial characteristics.This thesis takes Banville’s the Frames Trilogy(The Book of Evidence,Ghosts,Athena)as the research object,by using the method of close reading,criticism and the theme interpretation research methods,such as space,analysis of the novel in the light of the specific space image,explore the work attached to the space image of the heroine how to realize self-salvation,looking for the meaning of life theme,and further explore hidden behind in its cultural,historical and social significance.This thesis is divided into three parts,consisting of introduction,body and conclusion.The introduction part mainly introduces the background and reasons of the topic selection,the analysis of the basic status quo of the research on Banville’s Frames Trilogy at home and abroad,the research methods and research ideas of this paper.The main text is elaborated in three chapters:The first chapter mainly discusses the three typical real spatial images in The Book of Evidence: the Big House of Coolgrange,the wall painting Portrait of a Woman with Gloves and the Prison.The Big House of Coolgrange embodies the problem of Freddie’s identity break with his family and Irish culture,a break that prevents him from relating to a self-image constructed from memories of the past.Therefore,Freddie introduced himself into the imaginary world connected by the painting Portrait of a Woman with Gloves,in order to resolve the conflict between himself and the real society.The artistic imagination is the way for Freddie to recognize others,and it is also the root of Freddie’s inability to truly touch the real existence of people in reality.In the self-eroding environment of prison,Freddie began his path of spiritual salvation.The second chapter mainly discusses the surreal spatial image constructed by Freddie through the imagination of the painting the Golden World in Ghost,and the real spatial image island and wasteland on which it is located.On the one hand,through the study of the Golden World,Freddie lets himself enter the palace of artistic imagination constructed by the Golden World,and in the process of communicating with the characters in the painting,he uses the fairy tale narrative mode to give himself the role of "knight saving beauty",so that he can blend in with the crowd and return to the real society.Of course,all this will never be free for Freddie.The third chapter mainly discusses two interrelated spatial images in Athena,namely,the dark room and the brothel,the nursing home and the home.First of all,the communication between Freddie and A is carried out in the darkroom and brothel.The spatial experience change from the darkroom to the brothel demonstrates Freddie’s failure of A’s imagination.Secondly,Freddie’s resistance to the nursing home shows Freddie’s desire for a spiritual home.However,A’s quiet departure and the death of Aunt Corky mean that Freddie will never be able to complete spiritual salvation.On the basis of the previous analysis,the conclusion summarizes the typical spatial images in the Frames Trilogy again,and points out that Banville’s creative way of using spatial images to generate meaning has its own uniqueness.Banville used spatial images to create characters,profoundly metaphors the survival dilemmas that people generally encounter in Ireland and even modern society.