The Spatial Narrative Interpretation Of The Memoirs Of A Survivor

As a famous contemporary British writer from a diverse cultural background, DorisLessing (1919-2013), is acknowledged to be the greatest female writer after VirginiaWoolf. In2007, Lessing won the Nobel Prize when she was88years old, whichestablished her place in world literature.The Memoirs of a Survivor was one special masterpiece in her late years, which is afiction of realistic fantasies, and the themes include reveries, prophecy, social commentary,psychological studies, gender and other factors, not only offering scholars the possibility ofvarious interpretation, but also providing some new data for the rising colonialism,feminism, and spatial narration in the late20th century. Since its readers, confused with thenarrative method full of memories and fantasies, flinch from its “deep philosophy”, thispaper intends to probe into this prophetic work by making a spatial narrative interpretation.The introduction part briefly introduces post-modern geography and Bachelard’sPoetics of Space, and presents the necessity, feasibility and originality of interpretation ofThe Memoirs of a Survivor from the perspectives of the topographically physical space,social space, space of characters’ awareness, text space as well as chronological and spatialnarration. The work is filled with space imageries, which not only serve as storybackground and field, but also actively participate in the construction of novel content,promote the development of the plot, and deepen the theme. Her emphatic use of spacemarks that Lessing has come to her phase of “inner space fiction”. She describes the realityspace of the apartment in which “Survivor” lives, observes the social space on the sidewalkthrough windows, and creates another juxtaposed space behind the wall to show the realmof remembrance and “impersonal” subconscious, thus presenting a picture of the worlddoomsday by juxtaposing the three spaces, and subverting the traditional linear sequenceof narration by re-narrating the story spatially. In addition, the spatial constitution/structureof the text also requires readers to make a spatial interpretation. Only by inter-textuallyassociating many texts of Lessing, can readers understand the rich literary spaces in Lessing’s three-dimensional works. Finally, the narrative interpretation of the work spaceis also inseparable from the discussion of the fundamental dimension of time. Thus, in thisarticle topography physical space, social space, characters’ awareness space, text space andtime shaping, constitute the five study levels of The Memoirs of a Survivor and form a basefor the five chapters:In Chapter1,“Doomsday Scenario of Topographical Space” departs from the overallanalysis of the whole story space in the novel. This space consists of two levels: first,direct description of the narrator city, including the overall profile of the city and itsbuildings, streets, farms and other specific description; second, describing the city beforethe arrival of doomsday and the ridiculous urban scene, including buildings, sidewalks,apartments and so on. Two levels of topography present a picture of urban doomsday,which, combined with the characteristics of urban culture related to story plot, reflectsLessing’s concerns about the prospects for human development.Based on topographical space in Chapter1, Chapter2“Social Space Crises” furtherexplores the social space and the cultural connotations behind. This exploration mainlyuses the theories of modern geography, space power, and space of narrative fiction toexplore the clashes between social spaces of individuals and government and of men andwomen in Lessing’s works, showing a series of social problems, and humanity harmsprovoked by disasters, as well as the author’s concerned thoughts of human nature.In Chapter3,“The Gradual Redemption of Psychological Space” mainly usespsychological principles and philosophy of Sufism to interpret the subconscious worldbehind the wall, searches for the reasons for the survival of the novel protagonist and givesa reasonable description to the hero’s adventures in the world behind the wall.In Chapter4,“Spatial Structure of Text Space” primarily applies Frank’s concept of“space form” to the structure and imagery to interpret the space communication of fictionform, and the expression of theme. Readers also need to adopt spatial thinking to interpretthe text inter-textually, to find out the textual identity of the same writer, and finally toachieve a deeper and better understanding of the writers and their works.In Chapter5,“Space-Time Narrative” is to explore the coexistence andcomplementarity of the two basic narrative dimensions—time and space. Time is thefourth dimension of space, so they are inseparable components together, constituting thenarrative. Therefore, the study focused on the chronological dimension of the modern novel has its own deficiencies, and this paper interprets the new values of the novel in thecontext of time and space.The conclusion summarizes the feasibility of the five levels of space narration and theimportant significance of using of space critical theory for interpreting Lessing’s TheMemoirs of a Survivor.