| In this era of remarkably enhanced spatiality,the behavior and cognition of people have been changed by the presentation of spaces.As for the literary studies of today,narratology,which focuses on the narrative functions of text,has come to its post-classical revival stage and verifies Roland Barthes’ s statement that narrative has an almost infinite diversity of forms,and is not only limited to oral and written languages.Moreover,the importance of space and place has been strengthened by the “spatial turn” in literary studies.At the same time,the various types of space and place depicted in literary works continuously extend the boundaries of literary studies to fields such as geography,history,politics,and even technical fields such as big data analysis,geographic information systems（GIS）,remote sensing and mapping,etc.In terms of the symptoms of this age,American scholar Robert Tally,an expert in spatial literary studies,articulated the theory of literary cartography.This theory relates to the different ways of understanding the world,and more importantly,is closely related to narratives.Tally held that “the imperative of cartography” comes from the anxiety of existence and spiritual loss of human beings in the context of modernity.In this sense,there is much liquidity in the location of individuals within the world system so human beings trapped in the fears of disorientation will seek orientation urgently to relocate positional relationships of themselves,other subjects,and reality.Literary cartography enables subjects with spatial anxiety to locate themselves and understand their existence and the space where they live.To Chinese readers,the most famous work of Philip Dick is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.The cyberpunk tone of the title alone elicits the curiosity of countless readers.This novel uses tight-knit plots to tell the story of a bounty hunter,Rick Deckard,chasing and killing six androids in a day.Philip Dick’s unique way of writing always leads readers to wonder about more possibilities of the ending after reading the story.This thesis analyzes Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? from the perspective of literary cartography and explores the cartographic processes,strategies and metaphors in the novel.In the process,this thesis excavates the complex geographical situation,spatial information,relationships,and characters’ activities in the construction of spaces.Moreover,this thesis explores Philip Dick’s cartographic project and purpose by considering him as a cartographer.This thesis is organized into five chapters.Chapter One provides a brief introduction to Philip Dick and his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,furthermore,it offers a summary of related research and the research trend about the novel at home and abroad.Then,it illustrates the background and specific contents of the research questions.Finally,this chapter explains the theory of literary cartography.Chapter Two presents literary cartography as the overlapping territory of spatial literary studies and narratology.This chapter presents a close reading of the text,and analyzes the literary spatial depiction and narrative mapping of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,it also summarizes the construction of geographical,social and psychological spaces in the writer’s narrative.Chapter Three explores how narrative represents space and form cartography by an in-depth interpretation of the writer’s cartographic project,and combines Robert Tally’s adventure cartography model to position Rick Deckard,the protagonist of the novel,into the cartographic project.Chapter Four discusses the metaphorical functions of literary cartography.The Frankfurt School Theory is used to interpret the cartography of the novel from the aspects of writing,content representation and modernity.Then,the triple metaphors of the novel’s cartography project are discussed: the metaphor of national identity,the reflection on subjective crises,and the criticism of technological rationality.This chapter also explores Philip Dick’s writing purpose from his personal life experience,and compares the settings in the novel with the social background at that time.Chapter Five is the conclusion part,by reviewing Philip Dick’s cartographic project of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,the chapter summarizes how Philip Dick achieves spatial writing via narrative and how Philip Dick supplements his cartographic project with spatial writing.Finally,it looks into the future of literary cartography and science fiction studies,and suggests that the combination of these two fields can provide new paths to depict and reflect on the current scenarios. |
