Spatial Representation Of Alienation In Winesburg, Ohio

As an important writer in modern American literature, Sherwood Anderson is hailed as the "mentor of modern American writers", exerting huge influence on the younger generation like William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Sensitive to social changes, Anderson engages himself in exploring modern people’s living condition under the context of industrialization. The collection of short stories, Winesburg, Ohio, as Anderson’s most well-known work, successfully depicts a group of grotesques in the drastically changing time, revealing the general alienation townspeople are suffering.The thesis aims to examine the alienation in Winesburg, Ohio from a spatial perspective. According to space theory, space is not a mere physical context, but an active agent which structures social hierarchy and there are cultural and social connotations behind various spatial agents. Given this, by employing the theories of Henri Lefebvre, Michel Foucault, Mike Crang and other scholars, the present research studies the spatial representation of the five alternatives of alienation, namely, isolation, normlessness, powerlessness, meaninglessness and self-estrangement. For the convenience of analysis, Lefebvre’s triadic frame is adopted and space is accordingly divided into physical, mental and social spaces, though some overlapping is predictable considering the interrelatedness of the three.The thesis consists of five chapters. Apart from a brief overview of Sherwood Anderson’s life and Winesburg, Ohio, Chapter One gives a survey of the studies on the work, definitions of alienation, and the development of space theory. The focus and structure of the thesis will also be introduced. Chapter Two concentrates on physical space. The section aims to explore how characters’ alienation is reflected in living place, Winesburg’s natural landscape and their different behaviors when they shuttle between town and farm. Chapter Three investigates the alienation in psychological world. This psychological space will be materialized into self-deception, delusion and memory, all of which are studied in terms of their functions in embodying protagonists’ warped mentality. Chapter Four focuses on the alienation in social space, in the form of futile interaction among townspeople, spiritual crisis in the milieu and self-estrangement highlighted in the association with George Willard. The last chapter is the conclusion, which summarizes previous discussions and points out the significance of the present research.On account of the interdisciplinarity of space theory, the research opens a new horizon for Andersonian study and the somewhat cliche theme alienation is shed light upon from a new angle.