An Interpretation Of "a Rose For Emily" From The Perspective Of Spatial Narrative

William Faulkner (1897-1962) is one of the greatest experimental writers in the 20th century. The narratological study of"A Rose for Emily", one of his famous short story, has been a hot and difficult topic for a long time. This thesis, integrated with previous narratological researches, investigates the spatial narrative in"A Rose for Emily"in terms of three aspects: the geographical space, the social space and the textual space, focusing on its narrative devices and functions of Faulkner's creation of spatial narrative, and then explores the artistic effects of spatial narrative.This thesis mainly employs Joseph Frank's theory of space to interpret"A Rose for Emily". The core aim of spatial-narrative study is to explore the functions of space in literature, i.e. how space participating or influencing narration. In modernist fictions, spatial narrative has become one of important writing techniques, i.e., space is utilized not only as where the events happen and a necessary scene for narration, but also to arrange the narration, put forward narrative process and represent time. According to Frank's relevant view, the spaces in"A Rose for Emily"can be divided into three: the geographical space, the social space and the textual space. Jefferson town, as the integration of geographical and social space, not only serves a stage in the story (the static function of space), but also is applied to enlarge the capacity of the text to push forward the narration in the story by two narrative techniques (the dynamic function of space): to segment Jefferson town and to introduce outsiders into Jefferson town. This not only enlarges narrative capacity of the text, but also deepens the theme of the story.Faulkner employs the technique of juxtaposition to make the form of the text to form an orange structure, which illustrates that"space represents time", i.e., the spatialization of time. The short story is"short"but requires"storyness", so some typical events in Emily's life are selected, but the whole narration is non-linear, i.e. narrative time and story time are not synchronic; this fragment-like narration forms an orange structure to create a sense of space. Moreover, the story begins with the funeral of Emily and ends it, which forms a"closed"time-circle so as to deepen the theme of the story. In short, the orange structure indicates the spatialization of time."A Rose for Emily"builds a"spatialized"literary world, which is an obvious evidence for Faulkner as an adventurous experimentalist; meanwhile, to interpret fictions from the perspective of spatial narrative is a brave try, if not good, in order to call for more and deeper researches to analyze and appreciate modernist literature.