An Analysis Of England,England From The Perspective Of Spatial Narrative

Julian Barnes is a prestigious contemporary British writer.As his most interesting novel,England,England has received much attention since publication.However,there are few narrative studies about this novel.On the basis of Gabriel Zoran's spatial narrative theory and Mikhail Bakhtin's chronotope theory,this thesis makes a spatial narrative study of this novel,then probes further into its space structure,and finally reveals Barnes' s exquisite narrative skills and the profound theme of this novel.The thesis respectively analyzes the topographical space,the chronotopic space,and the textual space of the novel.Depicting three topographical spaces,Barnes presents the current situation and crisis of England;narrating with different chronotopes,he reveals the protagonist Martha's self-quest road and Sir Jack's reconstruction of England's national identity;the application of narrative skills like juxtaposition,repeated images and multiple-narrative perspective interrupt the chronological order and help to construct the space in the novel.Through the analysis,the thesis manifests Barnes' s ability to grasp and organize the space structure on the one hand,and reveals his concern and meditation about the current crisis of the personal identity and national identity in England after the sun had actually set on “the empire on which the sun never sets” on the other.