| Oscar Wilde (1854--1900) was born in Dublin, Ireland. He is one of the greatestartists and writers of the19thCentury. His dramas, poetry, fair tales and novel arewell-known to the whole world. At the same time, as the representative ofaestheticism in Britain, he advocates “art for art’s sake†in both his works and theaesthetic movements. As Wilde’s only novel, the Picture of Dorian Gray is a classicwork of aestheticism at the end of the19thCentury. It tells the story of a beautifularistocratic Britain young man---Dorian Gray who betrays his soul in order to gain theeternal youth and lead the luxury life which gradually makes him corrupted andultimately leads to his destruction. After the publication of this novel, there are bothcriticism and praises of it. However, it is no denying that the Picture of Dorian Grayis a work which can stand the test of time and research thanks to its uniqueness andexcellence.Since the Picture of Dorian Gray was published, numerous writers, scholars andcritics have carried out researches and interpretations of the novel from variousperspectives, such as the aestheticism, psychology, art, consumerism, stylistics,ecology and so on. However, few studies have been done on the narration features ofthis novel.The present paper is an attempt to study the features of narrative spaces ofthis novel and to probe into Wilde’s spacial art and its aesthetic effect.This paper focuses on three aspects of spatial narrative in the Picture of DorianGray, namely, the forms of space, the features of spatial narrative and the techniquesof applying the spatial narrative. The main body of the paper contains three chapters.The First Chapter analyzes the forms of spaces in the Picture of Dorian Gray. To beexact, the spaces in the novel can be classified into two kinds of forms, namely, thefixed space and moving space. Therefore, through these two forms of space, the deepmeaning and information can be attained. The Second Chapter attempts to tap therelationship between space and the Picture of Dorian Gray in the narrativeconstruction. The analysis explains the function of spaces by focusing on the spatialimage of town, the spatial image of salon and the spatial image of road. The Third Chapter discusses the techniques and methods of Oscar Wilde’s applying the space inthe narrative construction. On the one hand, it studies the selecting, representing andcontrol of spaces. On the other hand, it gives explanations of the relationship betweentime and space which highlights the importance of space in the narrative construction.Therefore, guided by the theory of spatial narrative, the readers can understand thePicture of Dorian Gray more profoundly. In a word, the space plays an important rolein the narration of the Picture of Dorian Gray which is one of the reasons that lead tothe success of the novel’s narration and being an irreplaceable classic. |
