A Spatial Approach to Margaret Laurences The Loons 从空间理论视角解读玛格丽特•劳伦斯作品《潜水鸟》文献综述

 2023-04-22 03:04

文献综述

1. Introduction1.1 Research backgroundNot until the second half of the 20th century does the spatial theory come into research focus and set off an upsurge with the rise of postmodernism, which provides a new perspective for researchers to interpret literary texts. The French thinker Henri Lefebvre, the pioneer of spatial theory, first points out the social attributes of space in his monograph The Production of Space (1991). Subsequently, Foucaults theory on the relationship between space and power endows the theory with cross-age significance. Then, scholars such as Fredric R. Jameson, David Harvey and Edward W. Soja are committed to the spatial turn. While ushering the arrival of the space age, they propose enough theories to deepen our understanding of space. Margaret Lawrence (1926-1987) is one of the famous female writers in the Canadian renaissance. Her works cover a wide range of fields, including novels, essays and childrens stories. She won the Governor Generals Literary Awards twice and has been hailed as the Mother of Canadian Literature due to her deep concern about the fate of women (Coger, 1990). After marriage, Margaret moved to Africa due to her husbands work needs. What she saw and heard there provided her with a wealth of material to write about and meanwhile arose her awareness of the cruelty of colonialism and the oppression of patriarchy. With much attention paid to marginalized groups who suffered oppression for a long period of time, Margaret showed her sympathy for them and formed her own unique views. After returning to Canada, Margaret deeply observed the life around her, finding that multicultural colonialism and patriarchy also permeated Canada, which encouraged her to speak for marginalized groups with the weapon of literature. Therefore, Manawaka series are created, including four novels and a collection of short stories, whose themes include female independence, racial equality, cultural equality and ecological protection. With the unique feminine writing style, Margaret shapes different female images from the marginalized groups who struggle bitterly between ideals and reality but never give up exploring their own value in colonial and patriarchal society, which gives expression to her reflection on the feminist movement of the era and criticism of colonialism and patriarchy. The Loons is the most famous story in A Bird in the House (1970/1993) which is considered as a small masterpiece and perhaps her best work (Grace, 1997: 328-339) in Manawaka series. The story employs the first persons narration and took place in Manawaka town, 50 years after the failure of the Red River Rebellion. The rebellion, containing two rebel movements, was launched by the Metis living in the Western Red River region, with the purpose of protecting their traditional lifestyle, defending their national rights, but both these two rebel movements led by Louis Riel ended in failure. Since then, the Metis became a marginalized group, suffering from the discrimination and oppression of the colonists. Piquettes grandfather is a survivor of the war who settles in Wachakwa Valley after the defeat. Under this background, Piquette was born and grows up in a terrible environment where her family is in extreme poverty. Even if suffering from bone tuberculosis, Piquette still has to cook for the family. The narrator Vanessa McLeods doctor father takes Piquette to Diamond Lake to help her recuperate. In the fourth year after she drops out of school, Piquette appears in the caf with a whole new look. She is eager to get rid of the label of Metis by marrying a white young man. But she is abandoned and returns to the shack with two children. Finally, Piquette and her children are buried in the sea of fire due to her addiction to alcohol. Henri Lefebvre emphasizes that space is an important part of social relations and a product of various ideologies. The shaping of Piquettes survival dilemma and life tragedy is inseparable from the racist ideology and patriarchal ideology of the era and the social stratum in which Piquette lived. Apart from suffering racial discrimination and colonial oppression, Piquette is unable to integrate into the mainstream culture. Additionally, patriarchal thought still prevails among the Metis. All these need to be considered in the study of Piquettes survival dilemma. Therefore, the interpretation of The Loons from the perspective of spatial theory can reveal how Piquette is trapped in survival dilemma and what causes her life tragedy. 1.2 Literature review As it is collected in the third edition of Advanced English 2 edited by Zhang Hanxi, a national planning textbook for university undergraduates, The Loons has drawn much attention of domestic scholars. However, there are relatively few studies abroad. Scholars study The Loons from these two major perspectives: themes including racism and oppression (Ware, 1998; Stolve, 2010), thoughts on ecological feminism (H. Wang, 2015), and characters tragic fates (Zhang, 2003); writing techniques including symbolic (Dai, 2014) and narrative features (C. L. Wang, 2019).In terms of racism and oppression, Ware (1998) analyzes the racial stereotypes in The Loons, that is, aborigines fall victim to the white civilization. She also claims that apart from mixing the Metis up with the Indians, Margaret confuses Metis and the Indians with the loons. Murray (2007) cares about negotiating loss and otherness in The Loons, by focusing on a vague sense of guilt and a strong sense of loss of Vanessa, the narrator, as well as emphasizing the symbolic role Vanessas father plays. Stovel (2010) points out the satirical effects of literary stereotypes on the basis of Wares study. Additionally, he refutes Wares opinion and emphasizes that it is the narrator, Vanessa, who confuses the Metis with Indians. Margaret expresses her desire that racism can be deconstructed through the ironic description of this racial prejudice. W. T. Liu (2020) puts forward that the reason for Piquettes tragic fate is females oppressed identity and marginalized identity, which reveals the defects of western traditional feminism, the cruelty of colonialism and the tragic fate of women in the third world under the patriarchal discourse.With regard to symbolic features, Dai (2014) suggests that Diamond Lake represents nature, and the ululating cry of the loons symbolizes the elegy by nature for the reason that human civilization causes the destruction. Y. J. Liu (2015) probes into the symbolic significance of the loons and the environment, which reveals the theme the survival of the marginalized. There are seven papers interpreting The Loons from the perspective of ecofeminism, and two of them should deserve our attention. Z. L. Wang (2011) argues the creative thought from the perspective of ecofeminism, highlighting the authors desire to establish an equal and harmonious relationship between human and nature. H. Wang (2015) interprets the ecological ethics crisis of rule and conquest between people and the ecological environment, emphasizing the elimination of human-centered consciousness and patriarchal thought if we aim to liberate women and nature.However, only a few scholars study The Loons from the perspective of spatial theory. Among them, Xu (2016) explores the role of physical space and metaphorical space in generating the text narrative, stating that the backtracking and juxtaposition of physical space form the basic structure of narrative and enhance the three-dimensional effect of narrative. He also believes that the combination of physical space and metaphorical space restores the tragic truth, that is, there is no essential change in Piquettes social space. Although scholars at home and abroad have done a lot of research on The Loons, there are still some deficiencies. First, scholars interpret Piquettes tragedy merely from the relationship between material space and power while ignoring the social space where power breeds and ideologies form. Also, there is a lack of in-depth analysis of Piquettes mental space. Second, they focus on themes like racial discrimination and patriarchal oppression based on dualism while paying little attention to the important role of mainstream culture. Third, most of the previous studies are phenomenon-oriented while the reasons behind are often ignored. Therefore, this paper attempts to interpret The Loons from the perspective of spatial theory, including the negative atmosphere in physical space, oppression in social space and collapse in Piquettes mental space, and the relevant reasons behind all these phenomena.1.3 Need of the studyThe necessity of interpreting The Loons from the perspective of spatial theory is as follows: First, this study has certain theoretical significance because characterization, plot promotion and theme deepening are inseparable from the space in the novel. This study will interpret The Loons from the perspective of spatial theory by comprehensively analyzing the survival dilemma that Piquette faces from three perspectives: physical space, social space and mental space. Second, it has certain practical significance. On the one hand, it is conducive to dealing with the trend of cultural globalization. Nowadays, while globalization promotes cultural exchanges among countries, cultural hegemony of powerful countries may lead to exclusion and even conflicts, and the uniqueness of local culture may be weakened so much to cause the loss of a sense of identity. This study helps people to raise the consciousness of cultural equality among all ethnic groups as well as realize that the traditional culture of their own nation should be critically inherited. On the other, patriarchy still exists in some backward areas, and some women are still oppressed by men. This study can awaken their consciousness and enable them to understand that it is of great importance to fight for equal rights and master their own discourse power. 2. The spatial theoryThe spatial theory provides a new perspective for scholars to study literary texts and has practical guiding significance for interpreting literary works. This section will systematically comb the rise and development of the spatial theory, and focus on Lefebvres and the role his theory plays.2.1 Rise and development Engels believes that the basic forms of all existence are space and time. However, time often lies before space, and space seems to be an accessory of time. The western traditional view of space holds that space is only a container which is fixed, non-dialectical and static. Foucault amp; Miskowiec (1986) hold that space itself has a long history in the west, and the fatal intersection between space and time cannot be disregarded. Therefore, with the in-depth study of the concept of time, it is inevitable that space will be reiterated. Scholars research on space can be traced back to the 18th century when German drama theorist Lessing believes that poetry is a temporal art and painting is a spatial art. Although Lessings view is controversial in the aesthetic circle, it has opened up a new perspective that space is no longer an appendage of time, but exists as an independent concept. In the early 20th century, some sociologists and philosophers begin to devote themselves to space research, but they cannot get rid of the shackles of the traditional concept of space and make no breakthrough. Not until the second half of the 20th century is much attention paid to space and do scholars shift the research focus from time to space in different fields. Then, the trend of spatial turn is formed, thus setting off an interdisciplinary research upsurge in the academic circle and echoing the modern wave in the fields of art, science and thought. Lefebvre criticizes the traditional concept of space and argues that space is never empty: it always embodies a meaning (1991: 154). Since then, the door of spatial turn has been opened and scholars in different fields have studied and practiced spatial theory from different angles. Foucaults power spatial theory is also of pioneering significance in the development of spatial theory. Foucault (2019) gropes for the relationship between space and knowledge, rights and survival by analyzing the discipline received by individuals in space, pointing out that space is the foundation of public life and power operation. He also creatively proposes the concept of heterotopia; the heterogeneous space is real, isolated and permeable. Inspired by Lefebvre and Foucault, scholars in different fields continue to deepen the connotations of space, and spatial theory begins to experience a period of cultural turn. The representatives are Fredric R. Jameson, David Harvey, Mike Crang and Edward Soja. Jameson (1991) deems that postmodernism exists as a spatialized culture and puts forward the concept of time-space compression and hyperspace, the space that humans cannot locate at present. Crang studies the relationship between space and culture, focusing on not only how cultures spread over space but also how cultures make sense of space (1998: 2). Soja breaks the binary opposition between time and space and between physical space and mental space, considering that the first space is a real and perceptible material world, and the second space is a conceptual and imaginary productive space. He defines the third space as a distinct mode of critical spatial awareness that appreciates to the new scope and significance being brought about in the re-balanced trialectices of spatiality-historicality-sociality (1996: 57). Based on the spatial theory put forward by foreign scholars, domestic scholars mainly study the spatial theory in the following two aspects: to interpret and develop the Western spatial theory; to explore the significance of spatial theory in literary research by combining the spatial theory with post colonialism, feminism and other theories. For instance, Long (2014) is the first scholar in China to combine space with narration, and makes a systematic elaboration of the theory on spatial narratology. He argues that space is a means of narration, so researchers should integrate space with other elements of the novel to find the narrative significance of space rather than regard space as the actual place the story takes place. Yang amp; Li (2018) deeply explore Harveys spatial theory, summarizing three dimensions and specific problems. Deng (2005) interprets Joseph Conrads Nostromo with spatial theory, which provides an example for domestic spatial criticism. Zheng (2016) thinks that space in literary works should be regarded as a field with rich cultural significance, not just the void and rigid background through which cultural and historical narration takes place. It can be seen that the research upsurge of space is still unabated up to now. 2.2 Lefebvres spatial theoryHenri Lefebvre is a universally recognized master of Philosophy Criticism of daily life and a powerful promoter of the spatial turn of Western postmodern theory (Liu, 2016). It is generally believed that his publication of La Production de Lespace (1974) marks the formation of spatial theory. He opposes the Western traditional concept of space and studies space from the perspective of politics and economy, stating that space is neither a simple mathematical concept nor an empty 'container' serving the evolution of social relations, but a place where all social relations and various ideologies produce contradictions and conflicts. As he says, everything that there is in space, everything that is produced either through their co-operation or through their conflicts (1991: 101). He also holds in addition to being a means of production, [space] is also a means of control (1991: 26). Thus, space itself is productive. It does not serve social production and social relations; it is an indispensable part of social production and social relations. In addition, Lefebvre criticizes the traditional epistemology of binary space, that is, material and consciousness. Physical space and mental space have been regarded as neutral, single and self-contained for a long time, so all previous studies on space are the simple superposition of these two spaces, resulting in the lack of systematicness and integrity. To break this deadlock, he creatively puts forward the concept of social space and points out that it is paranoid and short-sighted to attribute social space to material determinism whilst it is an excessive interpretation of idealism to attribute social space to spirit. When we study space, only by connecting physical space, mental space and social space can space research be effective. As for the order of focusing on these three spaces, Lefebvre suggests that the fields we are concerned with are, first is physical-nature, the university; the second is the mental, including logical and formal abstractions; the third is social (1991:11).2.2.1 Physical spacePhysical space is a concrete space where people can perceive through their senses. What they can perceive include the material, size, temperature, etc. of physical space, so it is also called perceptual space, which is objective and material. Physical space includes production and reproduction, which means it is closely related to human production mode as well as the process and result of peoples production and reproduction of social components according to a certain mode of production. The final products can be natural scenery, high-rise buildings, urban roads, schools, parks and other buildings. Zhang amp; Xu (2021) further add that physical space is the behavioral process of activities and communication and the material result of the created social space. Besides, physical space has a metaphorical meaning beyond itself so that scholars can discover the political, social, cultural and other information implied in the text by exploring the transference of physical space. 2.2.2 Mental spaceMental space is an abstract space that people cannot feel through perception. It belongs to the field of consciousness and is an idealized space conceived by people, so it is also called conceived space. Lefebvre defines mental space as the space of reductions, of force and repression, of manipulation and cooperation, the destroyer of nature and of the body (1991: 354). Knowledge and power are two important parts of mental space. The discourse power of mental space is controlled by the ruler, showing a distinct hierarchy. He also points out the relationship between spiritual space and production, that is, mental space is tied to the relations of production and to the order which those relations impose, and hence to knowledge, to signs, to codes, and to frontal relations (1991: 33). It can be symbols, codes, symbols, knowledge, policies, etc., which provides production space for power holders and reproduces the production and production relations of space through its dominant role. 2.2.3 Social Space Social space plays an important role in Lefebvres spatial theory. It is precisely because the traditional binary space (physical space and mental space) can not determine the category scope of social space that Lefebvre puts forward the ternary dialectics of space. He deems any space of space social production is a triple space, that is, space practice, representation of space and representational space. Social space is a space that people experience by themselves, and a space to show peoples living conditions and social relations. Lefebvre proposes that social space is the dominated and hence passively experienced space where the imagination seeks to change and appreciate. It overlays physical space, making symbolic use of its objects (1991: 39). It can be seen that the basis of social space is physical space, which is influenced or even dominated by mental space to certain extent. Social space not only includes the materiality and authenticity in physical space, but also has the imagination and experience in mental space. Through the reconstruction of spatial practice and spatial representation of space, social space forms a highly open spatial form so as to reflect the interests and production relations of production subjects. Lefebvre (1991) compares social space with natural space, believing that the difference between them is that they are not simply juxtaposed: they are more likely to interfere with each other, combine with each other, overlap with each other, and sometimes even collide with each other. Therefore, social space can reflect the conflict between strong power and weak power. Additionally, social space plays a supporting role in class and hierarchy. Zheng (2016) states that physical space, mental space and social space are intertwined and indivisible and only by unifying these three spaces in literary criticism can we reveal the actual process of space production (Lefebvre, 1991: 7).2.3 Functions of Lefebvres spatial theoryLefebvres spatial theory plays a significant role in understanding postmodern literature and art. First, the issues of ideology, rights, and gender emphasized and reflected in Lefebvres spatial theory can provide a new perspective for the study of marginalization, postcolonial literature and feminist literature. Second, space shapes individuals and society (Wang, 2005: 104), so Lefebvres spatial theory can act as a situational marker of identity and be helpful to study the protagonists complex identity. Third, Zhou (2008) further adds that only the contemporary narrative considering the spatial dimension is complete, otherwise it will lead to the distortion of facts, the concealment of the truth and the omission of the event itself. Therefore, Lefebvres spatial theory can restore the truth of the story and contribute to exploring the reasons, such as patriarchal ideology, racist ideology and mainstream culture. This thesis attempts to reveal how Piquette is trapped in survival dilemma and explore the relevant reasons from the perspective of Lefebvres spatial theory, including the negative atmosphere in physical space, oppression in social space and collapse in Piquettes mental space.ReferencesBryant, C. L. (2013). Seeking peace: The application of third spatial theory in Toni Morrisons Sula. CLA journal, 56 (3), 251-266. Coger, G. M. K. (1990). Margaret Laurences Manawaka. In C. Nicholson (Ed.), Critical approaches to the fiction of Margaret Laurence. 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