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Space Narrative In Doris Lessing's The Memoirs Of A Survivor

Posted on:2012-12-22Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:J J LiuFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155330335956232Subject:English Language and Literature
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Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 2007, with the wealth of personal experience and unique perspective, showed the survival of human beings situation of the 20th century in her novels. This thesis investigates the problematic locality "space" and its presentation in The Memoirs of a Survivor by studying the interrelationship between class, gender and space by analyzing the protagonists who breakthrough the geographical space, then enter the social space, eventually return to self, to explore the transcendental space for the survivors to live on in the novel. Finally this thesis comes to the conclusion:no matter how difficult the circumstances are and no matter how mess the society is in, through the persistence of the idea of living and the transmutation of self images, the survivors can find another way with hope with breaking through the limitation of physical space and social space.The thesis consists of three aspects to explore space narrative in Lessing's novels, The Memoirs of a Survivor. The first chapter analyzes the environment of the happenings of the novel, which can be generally divided into two physical spaces, one is the "real" world where the narrator sees other people's growth and reaction under the condition of the catastrophe, the other is the world behind the wall where the narrator perceives what has happened in Emily's childhood and another different world providing them with the chance of survival. Through the description and contrast of these two spaces, the narrator leads readers into the mess world after catastrophe. Furthermore, the relationship between persons is not harmonious because of their struggles for more space to survive. And there are many counterpoints not only between the authority and the individual, but also between male and female which are discussed elaborately in Chapter two.As the self images of the main protagonists grow mature, the survivors obtain their opportunity to enter the transcendental world to live on. It is concluded that no matter how difficult the situation is, through the transmutation of self, there are some ways to make survive and live on with hope.
Keywords/Search Tags:Doris Lessing, The Memoirs of a Survivor, space
PDF Full Text Request
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