Space-based Narrative Representation In Western Modern Novels

For a long time,linear time has been the most classical and most effective way of plot organization for novels.The novelist creates stories according to the law of causation and the sequence of time.It was not until the 19th century that the traditional realistic narrative reached a peak.Since the advent of the 20th century,the traditional narrative experience has been overturned by the modern society,leading to public questioning of Aristotle’s idea of complete plot and conscious abandonment of the classical linear narrative.Novelists consciously took the initiative to create texts through breakthroughs of “time”,and “space techniques”.Similarly,“space”serves as an important key to studying and understanding modern and postmodern works,which plays an important role in processing textual plots,shaping character images,displaying open themes,and strengthening value intensity.Proceeding from the “space” perspective,this paper studies the space mechanism of modern and postmodern novels,including juxtaposition,embedding,circling and other space narrative techniques,and the role of the profound connotation hidden behind the physical space in promoting the development of narrative.In the process of examining the space representation of novels,this paper takes representative novels for case study,and summarizes the space time involved in modern and postmodern novels at an attempt to find out shared principles from a variety of artistic techniques,form a universal scope of aesthetics,and provide a new research perspective for novels appearing since the advent of the 20th century.