Space In The Narrative Of The Inheritance Of Loss

Kiran Desai,the 35-year-old Indian author,won the 2006 Man Booker Prize by The Inheritance of Loss,becoming the youngest-ever female winner.The concern for globalization,for income disparity,for multiculturalism,and for fundamentalism have gained attention.However,most domestic and foreign scholars dwell on its theme rather than its narrative.Despite the fact that a few have been attentive to its circuitous narrative and spatial displacement,systematic analysis of space in its narrative is rarely seen.Based on the theory of space in narrative,this thesis probes into the novel by exploring its spatial form and story space with the aim of elucidating Desai's attempt to “write the empire back”.This thesis consists of four chapters.The first chapter is introduction,in which a general information about Kiran Desai and The Inheritance of Loss are presented and the evolving of a theory of space in narrative is clarified.The second chapter is about the narrative structure of the story.It gives central place to the arch-style spatial form,which is brought about by the appropriating of Flaubert's,Joyce's and James' s technique—the de-emphasizing of temporality through parataxis,multiple plots,fragmentation and portrait of consciousness.The third chapter takes the perspective of story space.In this chapter,the social space,state space and global space,constructed through different spatial elements are analyzed.In constructing different space,these spatial elements are conducive not only to driving the narrative and reflecting the mentality of protagonists but also to constructing the space in the story world,which bring into focus the economic,cultural,political and social forces behind the space.By building different levels of space Desai constructs a narrative world with India as the center,which dissolves the center-margin duality and thus writes the empire back.The fourth chapter is the conclusion,which discloses that Desai,through the liberation of post-colonial writing,points out the way for those lost Indians to decolonization and de-loss so as to rejuvenate the old nation.