A Study Of The Spatial Narrative In Winesburg,Ohio

Sherwood Anderson was one of the founders of modern American fiction,he exerted deep influence on the following writers like Earnest Hemingway,William Faulkner and John Steinbeck via his innovative techniques and natural linguistic style,and was reputed as "a writer's writer".Anderson was also a prolific writer,though his career as a professional writer only started in his late 30's,he had left quite a lot of literary works behind him,which included novels like Windy Mcpherson 's Son,Marching Men,Poor Whites and collection of short stories like Winesburg,Ohio,The Triumph of Egg,Death in the Woods as well as poems like Mid-American Chants and A New Testament.Anderson's short stories are usually considered as his best,which even set the direction for the subsequent development of short stories.Winesburg,Ohio makes a full expression of the spiritual struggle of the Midwest town settlements during the transitional period in the early 20th century by depicting their daily life in a creative way.And the fictional Winesburg becomes the symbol of the Midwest America because of its distinctive and unique features.The book also reveals to the reader the artistic idea and aesthetic ideology of Sherwood Anderson.Rejecting the traditional way of story telling that depends on plots,Anderson puts more emphasis on representing humanity of the individual beneath the surface of life.Based on the theory of Spatial narrative,and draws on elements of narratology and reader-reception theory,this essay tries to analyze the spatial art represented in Winesburg,Ohio from the perspective of physical space,structural space and psychological space.Firstly,Anderson constructed a place full of conflicts like Winesburg,and made this contradictory space the representation of the character,thus bringing forth the subject of the story.Then,on the structural level,Anderson employed the topic-juxtaposition mode rather than linear narration in Winesburg,Ohio in order to give a three-dimensional demonstration of the characters and the stories,and further intensify its subject.Lastly,Anderson combined several kinds of narrative techniques together to get the reader involved in the stories and came closer to the grotesque.This essay can be divided into five parts.Chapter one gives a general introduction to the theory of spatial narrative as well as the background information about Sherwood Anderson and Winesburg,Ohio,the literary review is also included in this part.Spatial narrative study,to put it in a simple way,means the exploration of the role of space in narration.According to the classification of space proposed by Frank and Zoran,and take the specific case of Winesburg,Ohio into consideration,this essay tries to explore the spatial art embodied in Winesburg,Ohio from the perspective of its content and form as well as reader's reception.Chapter two mainly analyses the physical space constructed in Winesburg,Ohio through the background information.Winesburg lay in the joint part between countryside and city,and it formed an atmosphere that was both rural and urban,agricultural and industrial.Anderson intentionally invented such an unique space as Winsburg and made it the settlement for the people who shared similar disposition with it,thus the space became the best representation of the people and an effective stimulator of the development of the story.Chapter three focuses on the analysis of the application of the topic-juxtaposition narrative in Winesburg,Ohio from the structural perspective.It draws a conclusion that Winesburg,Ohio is not a traditional collection of short stories,it is rather a novel based on a common topic.Each story showed a particular profile of the spiritual world of modern people,and together they revealed the alienation of modern people.Chapter four illustrates the relationship between spatiality and reader's perception.It probes into the question that how reading experience is affected by narrative devices like repetition,controlling of narrative rhythm as well as open-ending and how a better involvement and resonance can be achieved.Chapter five is the conclusion part,which points out the great success of Winesburg,Ohio mainly benefits from Anderson's employment of spatial element in literary creation.The interpretation of Winesburg,Ohio through the theory of spatial narrative,which intends to find out the internal logic of the novel,can bring about a different understanding to the novel,and will cast light on further study of the role of space in modern literature.