A Study Of Spatial Narrative In The English Novel Paradise

Abdulrazak Gurnah(1948-)has been devoted to writing works on the theme of refugees.Paradise is a novel that deeply portrays the living conditions of the colonial people,and the reflections it evokes have important social and practical significance for today’s society.Currently,domestic and foreign research on Paradise mainly focuses on racism and colonial trauma,while few scholars analyze it from the perspective of spatial narrative.With the help of Lefebvre’s spatial narrative theory,this article analyzes the causes of Yusuf’s ethical tragedy and its social significance by showing the choices made by people under the invasion of industrial civilization.Paradise has obvious spatial narrative characteristics.The article mainly interprets the relationship between identity and space from four spatial levels.The beginning part briefly introduces Gurnah and his work Paradise,as well as the current research status at home and abroad.It also combs the development of spatial narrative theory and the significance of this paper.From the textual content to the narrative techniques,Paradise displays a wealth of spatial imagery in a clear and hierarchical manner.The displacement of physical space,the disintegration of spiritual space,the collapse of social space,and the construction of text space have jointly exposed the hypocrisy of humanity under colonialism.The physical space starts with a train,dividing the constantly changing urban space and fixed residential space.The spiritual space depicts the spiritual state and love outlook of people under class oppression.Social space reflects on the oppression of the people by colonial rule.Text space explores the textual language and juxtaposition structure adopted by Gurnah.Finally,the article concludes with a summary of the four spatial narrative features of the previous article,highlighting Gurnah’s reflections on the history of African colonialism,and striving to reach a resonance of content and emotion with the reader.The multi-level space not only promotes the development of the plot,but also deepens the theme.Gurnah’s works break the traditional linear narrative,increase scene switching,skillfully deal with the relationship between personal fate and hometown,and fully display the conflict between individuals and society.Paradise seems to describe the growth experience of an African boy wandering in a foreign land with a caravan.In fact,it shows the collision between German colonialism and East African culture in the lives of African people a hundred years ago,and deeply depicts the contradictory psychology of African people’s identity and ethnic prominence.With the help of the text experience in the spatial narrative of Gurnah’s novel Paradise,the article explores the source of the protagonist’s lack of self-identity of the protagonist in the story,providing a direction for groups trapped in identity difficulties in a multicultural context.In short,interpreting Paradise from the perspective of spatial narration not only fills the gap in spatial research in Gurnah’s works,but also provides a new approach to textual interpretation,and deepens readers’ understanding of the plight of African blacks...