"Space Narrative" Study On Duras' Text

Marguerite Duras (Marguerite Duras, 1914-1996) is a contemporary French novelist, playwright and film dramatist. In 1984, her novel "The Lover" won the French Le Prix Goncourt; hereon she gained world-wide reputation. Her works had provided lots of vivid interpretation of materials for the literary criticism raised in 1960s, such as colonialism, feminism and identity of race, etc.In this paper, the new culture with geography, Foucault's "space power" theory and space-based writing strategies are combined to interpret "space narrative" problem reflected in Duras'text. The foreword will define the specific connotation of the "space narrative"; give a brief account of the cultural geography theory and other related theories and how to apply these theories to explain the necessity and feasibility.Space is a social, cultural, geographic multi-dimensional existence, and it is also the important element that Duras used to create literature. In Duras'text, the space environment of the hero was especially described. She often used the medium of space to reveal the "space" of the implication of the social and cultural connotation. Duras also specializes in the creative use of space-based approaches to subvert the traditional linear sequence: use emotional-oriented thinking to re-describe the story to fit the text hero's real sentiment. The composition of the space-based text model also requires the reader to use the integration of space-based thinking to interpret. Only with full directions'reading of the many associated text, the reader could deeply understand the literature: Duras'colorful three-dimensional space. As a result, these four aspects: the text description of physical space, the social significance that the space implies, space-based approaches and the space-based studying strategy for appreciation of the text make up of the four layers for the problem of "space narrative". Based on this, the paper has the following four chapters to describe:Chapter I: "geo-spatial combination of memory". By analyzing the geographical landscape which is presented in Duras'text, like the outskirts of Paris, India and Indo-China, we will present Duras'rebellion on the reality of geography. She integrated her childhood experience into the drawing of the colonies of these three locations, endowing the geographical space with a variety of symbolic meaning, which surpassed the physical space of the real border to complete the literary construction of geographical space.Chapter II: "multi-construction of the social space". To prove the relationship between human beings that should also be a construction method of the space, we mainly use the literary geography and "space power" related theories. Similar to the garden and log cabin which show the power of the narrow space on the permeability of space, it can blur the boundaries of space between the main identity and the outside space. So there will be overlaps between the self-identity and the outside, without any distinction. Similarly,with the continuous northward progressing of the geography of ethnic identity of the "lover", their degree of invasion of female space is further intensified, which not only reflects the concept of Duras'geographical races, but also the concept of the interaction between "space and power". Moreover,Duras'"home" space description changes from the symbolic space of men at home everywhere, to the female's consciously resisting of male's intrusion into the space, reflecting her unique recognition for the status of women in the home space. Chapter III: "impression conveying of the mental space". This part mainly explores the commonality of the mental space between the creating of writers, appreciation of readers and the characters in the text. In order to effectively achieve the experience of space to write, Duras used lots of typical space narrative strategies. She often breaks the traditional linear time sequence: with the help of fixed cells or overlap of images to integrate the fragmented impression of the instant perception of the past, present and future, and through the juxtaposition of scenes and the impression conveying means to reproduce the heart sentiment.Chapter IV: "intertextual association of space-related literature". Through character analysis for similar figures in the same text and the same characters in different text, the chapter reveals that they are involved in the unification of the similar theme associated with a certain inherent characters. Large number of similar figures in the same text active as the corresponding complements for each other; the same figures are repeated in different texts, enriching the characters multi-laterally; these two aspects embody the intertextual relevance of Duras'text literary space. Such three-dimensional similarity semantic field of literature which is constructed around the theme appeals the reader. The conclusion section summarizes the feasibility to explore space with these four dimensions and the signification of utilizing the space-critical theory to read "space narrative" problems of Duras'text.