SpaceNarrativeinSisterCarrie_陈明莉

ABSTRACT

Theodore Dreiser is one of the most important writers in the literature history of America. He has 7 novels and other literature works such as short stories, autography, dramas, and political essays and so on. Sister Carrie is his first long novel and it was once considered to be immoral. In one hundred years after its publication, times are changing, and people’s opinion is being changed. The traditional critics regard Carrie as a fallen woman. But with the development of sorts of thoughts, the perspectives of study on this heroine is changing. In the eye of the critics, Carrie is considered to be a rebellious woman.

Joseph Frank is one of the most outstanding contributors to the founding of the theory of narrative space. In the 40s of the 20th century, in his essay "Spatial Form in Modern Literature", Frank presents his general conception of the spatial form for the first time which begins the theory of narrative space. And then the spatial theories developed quickly, so did the theory of space narrative. Gabriel Zoran’s Towards the Theory of Space in Narratives has constructed the model of space theory which is considered the most valuable in practical use so far. He distinguished vertically three levels (topography, Chronotope，text) which are composed in space and in horizontal direction he put sforward the units of space measurement and different spatial structures showed by kinds of combination. Lefebvre propose the concept of social space. He thinks social space includes three levels: the spatial practice, the representation of space, and the representational space.

As a representative of modernist writers, Dresser overthrows the traditional linear narrative pattern in Sister Carrie, and forms a new system of time and space. Modernist writers "try to make the readers understand their work in one moment from the space rather than the order" (Makaryk, 1993: 629). So does Dresser. His creative style tallies with spatial effect constructed by narrative space theory. The theory of narrative space plays a more and more important role in western literary criticism in the twentieth century. It relates to and influences major forms of modern criticism and theory.

This thesis will mainly use Frank’s spatial form theory, the topograpgical theory of Gabriel Zoran and Lefebvre’s social space theory to analyze Sister Carrie from four aspects: the physical space, the psychological space, the textual space and the perceptional space, Thus the thesis tries to

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show the characteristics of the theory of narrative space and the irreplaceable role that spatial form plays in interpreting modern thinking. At the same time the author hopes to give the readers a new perspective to read Sister Carrie and Dreiser’s other works.

The thesis is divided into four chapters. Part one is a brief introduction to Dresser and his works and literature review. This part focus on the previous research and comments on Dresser and his novel Sister Carrie based on which I put forward the purpose and significance of choosing this topic.

Part two is an introduction to the space in literature from the traditional attitides towards space to the modern space theory. And the author centers on Gabriel Zoran’s topographical theory and Lefebvre’s social space theory, which are used as the theoretical background of this thesis.

Part three is the analysis of the Sister Carrie from the four aspects: physical space, psychological space, textual space and perceptional space. The analysis of the physical space Dresser constructs in the novel from the geographical and social perspectives shows the inevitability of sister Carrie’s alienation and the significance for the illustration of particular themes of the novel.; in probing the psychological space, the author focus on Carrie’s complex relationships with two men and then shows that strong psychological desire compels her to drop in the abysm of desire.

As for the textual space, the author uses Frank’s spatial forms to anlyze the images and the juxtaposed plots. Such images in the novel as the rocking-chair, window, the staring woman and the juxtaposed plots: Carrie’s love and Hurstood’s family relationship paly very important part in illustrating the theme of alienation of this novel; finally the author explores the perceptional space established in the reader's mind by analyzing the general effect of narrative spaces.

Through the above-mentioned detailed analysis, this thesis tries to explore the narrative space in Sister Carrie and the interplay of different forms of space, which is significant in understanding the trend of space development in modern fiction and the influence of form on content. This will help deepen the understanding of the characteristics, structure, art innovation and artistic conception of Dresser's novels, and it also will be helpful for us to understand the culture connotation in Sister Carrie.

Keywords:Sister Carrie, physical space, psychological space, textual space, perceptional space

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