People Trapped In Plights: A Spatial Criticism Of If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things

Jon Mc Gregor is one of the most talented and ingenious writers in the contemporary British literature.His debut novel,If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things brings him into literary prominence and wins him Somerset Maugham Award and the Betty Trask Prize.Since its publication in 2002,the novel has attracted heated discussions in foreign academia while most of them neglect the exploration of character predicaments in the book.Based on Henri Lefebvre’s spatial theories,this thesis will analyze the existential plights,psychological crises and interpersonal dilemmas encountered by the nameless characters in the three dimensions of space,namely physically,mentally and socially.By analyzing the physical space,the thesis first explores the indifference implied in the urban scenery at dawn and how the old community and modern city isolate its dwellers.The separation in the physical space is actually the externalization of characters’ traumatic psychological worlds.The thesis then goes on studying three traumatic memories revealed in the mental space,the loss of beloved wife of the father at number sixteen,the brutal war experience of the old man at number twenty and the collective witness of car accident.Burdened with traumas and guilt,these nameless characters become more alienated with each other in the community.The thesis finally analyzes the alienation unveiled in the social space from three dimensions,love relation,family relation and social relation.Love relations are being minimized under the power of capitalism and the family members are being oppressed by the authority of parents or patriarchy.However,there are still hopes that the alienated social relations can be healed through communicating and connecting with others.Approaching the novel from a new perspective,it can be noted that the anonymous city is filled with a strong sense of alienation and repression,making people trapped in various predicaments.However,it is not a phenomenon only unique to the characters in the novel.Jon Mc Gregor is also projecting a broader human society by reflecting what people in contemporary world may encounter.In this sense,the book invites the readers to pay attention to ordinariness in life and speak out their own stories.