A Study On The Pyramid From The Perspective Of The Spatial Criticism

William Golding(1911-1993),the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in1983,is widely known for his exposure of the darkness of human nature.His early works are mythical and allegorical with an imaginary background,while The Pyramid is a realistic one based on the author's life experiences.The Pyramid,as an important turn in Golding's writing career,cannot be ignored with its literary value research value.Under the efforts of many philosophers,theorists and scholars,such as Henry Lefebvre,Michel Foucault,David Harvey,Edwards Soja and so on,Modern Spatial Criticism theory has developed vigorously,especially in its combination with literary analysis.Henri Lefebvre,as one of the founders of Modern Spatial Criticism theory,breaks the traditional dualism thinking mode and enhances it to the dialectical spatial trialism.His explanations on the natural space,social space and mental space in 1991 in his great work,Production of the Space,provide us a new perspective to analyze literature.With the help of this kind of explanation,the present paper studies The Pyramid.The “space” can serve as not only the background of literary works but also an important way to reflect author's writing intentions.With Lefebvre's modern spatial criticism theory,this paper interprets the spatial elements,the characters and the events in three kinds of “space”—natural space,social space and mental space,and summarizes the characteristics of each space respectively: the natural space is a liberated space for the youths where they can have their catharses such as fight,sex and revenge;the social space is a repressive space due to the rigid hierarchic system and unfair conditions of the “feminine”;the mental space is Oliver's growing space inhis mind,ending with Oliver's maturity after suffering loss of love and dream,and in his self-confession.Through the analysis of the three types of the space in The Pyramid,this paper proves Golding's reverence to the power of nature,disappointment and sarcasm to the darkness in human nature and society,and the expectation for the individuals — the strong will to be oneself under bad influence internally or externally.