A Spatial Study In The Novels Of Carson McCullers

Carson McCullers,a writer of the second generation of the American “Southern Renaissance” in the 20 th century,constructed three spatial images in his novels,which confirms Lefebvre’s three dimensional space--physical space,spiritual and imaginary space,and social space.Based on the theory of Lefevre,Foucault and Bachelard,this thesis uses close reading to analyze McCullers’ four works: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter,Reflections in a Golden Eye,The Member of the Wedding,The Balled of the Sad Café.In order to discuss the text and practical significance of space,the thesis includes foreword,text and epilogue three parts.The part of the text falls into three chapter to expound the article’s main content.Chapter one starts from the physical space.First,defines the geospatial concept of southern America and outlines southern literature and cultural connotations.Second,analyzing the southern society and towns,and discussing McCullers’ thoughts on the commercialization and urbanization of small towns is turn out to find that the inhabitants of the town were in a state of physical and “spiritual isolation”.Chapter two explores the spiritual and imaginative space of McCullers’ novels.First,by analyzing the description of the body in the novel,we can know that the body carrying the spiritual container implies the fate of the characters and the social hierarchy.Second,utopian imagination expresses the living conditions and inner thoughts of the characters.Third,The text space is an imaginary space.This kind of fiction and the imagination of the characters in the novel make the space dimension bigger.Chapter three discusses the social space.Social space is divided into personal space and social public space.Personal space includes home,kitchen and room.Social public space includes cafe,military camp and hotel.The inhabitants of the small town are trapped in the trivial daily life and specific social relationship,we can explore the relationship between individual and space,individual and society,individual and self through these space scenes of daily life and social public communication places.The epilog will carry on the comprehensive summary to the whole page thesis.The urbanization,industrial and commercial development of the United States in the 1930 s and1940s not only affected the social outlook of the southern small towns,but also affected the daily life and social relations of the residents.Under the male-dominated patriarchal southern society,the relationship between men and women implicated by gender identity is chaotic,communication is blocked,and family relations are faltering.The enclosed physical space,isolated spiritual space,and rigid hierarchy(race,class,gender,age,etc.)differences make human beings never get out of loneliness.All this shows that the aesthetic and emotional values of McCullers’ novels are cross era and still relevant for study today.