A Study Of Postmodern Space In Frank Lentricchia's The Book Of Ruth

Frank Lentricchia,the Italian-American pre-eminent literary critic,now stands as a tireless and productive novelist who has devoted himself to literary creation for two decades.Lentricchia's ambitious novel The Book of Ruth puts its heroine Ruth Cohen into close contact with three influential political figures,respectively Castro,JFK,and Saddam;it puts its hero Thomas Lucchesi into the state of obscurity as a writer and anxiety as a husband.The thesis attempts to explore the nature of postmodern space in The Book of Ruth from three aspects,respectively the logic of postmodern space—space of flows and timeless time,the morphology of postmodern space—networking of the capital,the media and politics,and subjects in postmodern space—Lucchesi and Ruth with regard to their deconstruction and reconstruction.The thesis consists of five parts:respectively the introduction,three chapters and the conclusion.The introduction offers the basic information about the author,tells about the plot and structure of the novel,gives a literature review of the novel,and clarifies the tern "postmodern space" with special reference to the insights of Henry Lefebvre,Fredric Jameson,Manuel Castells,Michel Foucault and Edward Soja.The concept of postmodern space derives from what Lefebvre proposes as "science of space",with the logic of what Castells terms as "space of flows" and "timeless time",and with the morphology of networking,on the basis of which the postmodern space in The Book of Ruth and the major characters in the space are analyzed.Chapter One "Logic of Postmodern Space in The Book of Ruth" examines the logic of postmodern space,respectively the old logic of space of places,the new spatial logic of space of flows and the consequent temporal logic of timeless time.First,self-contained space of places is illustrated by Havana,the White House,Utica,Ninth Lake and Baghdad as described in the novel.Second,interrelated spaces of flows in The Book of Ruth are illustrated by the spatial transformation in information,manufacturing and architecture field,as well as the interactions of spaces.Third,timeless time,featuring instantaneity and postmodern eternity,is illustrated by flexible time,instant wars,blurring of life cycle and juxtaposition of past and present.Chapter Two "Morphology of Postmodern Space in The Book of Ruth" studies the morphology of networking of the capital,the media,and politics.First,it examines the impact of networking of the capital,which creates homogeneity and heterogeneity for space and postmodern nostalgia for individuals.Second,it examines the impact of networking of the media,which creates hyperreality for space and postmodern psychasthenia for individuals.Third,it examines the impact of political networking,which has warfare as the core and results in entanglement in politics for individuals.In addition,interactions between networks are discussed,with the media networking as the focus of images of political figures as well as political actions.Chapter Three "Subject of Postmodern Space in The Book of Ruth" explores suppression,resistance and reconstruction of Lucchesi and Ruth.First,under the suppression of the networking,Ruth loses control over activities and thus get alienated,and Lucchesi feels the stress of the decentering psyche and gets annihilated.Second,Lucchesi and Ruth attempt to resist by creating their own space in the art of writing and photography,in which Ruth succeeds and Lucchesi fails.Third,Ruth reconstructs her subjectivity through discovery of the creativity of art,interaction within society,and negotiation between global identity and local identity.The conclusion reiterates the nature of postmodern space with regard to the logic of space of flows and timeless time,with the morphology of networking,and with the shaped individual subjects.The capital,the media and politics are no longer self-contained,but increasingly interrelated with each other,which results in the rise of postmodern networking.Although Ruth and Lucchesi live under the suppression of the capital,the media,and the politics,they can still reconstruct themselves through giving meaning to their life experiences.