本文是一篇英语论文，本论文以空间理论为基础，论证了小说的空间性特征,发掘小说背后的现实主题。同时也期望能够拓宽、加深学界对《大瀑布》的研究，并为研究欧茨的作品及创作思想提供一个新的视角，加深对欧茨作品的理解与欣赏。
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Joyce Carol Oates and The Falls
英语论文参考
Born in a working-class family in Lockport,New York,Oates spent her childhood inher grandfather’s farm.She was exposed to and read a large number of literary works inhigh school,which laid a certain foundation for her creative career.While at university,Oates began to write novels,and she specialized in writing later.
Oates is a prolific writer with high quality.Since the publication of her debut,By theNorth Gate in 1963,Oates has finished and published more than 50 novels and novellas,29 collections of stories,16 collections of literary criticism and memoirs,8 poetrycollections,8 drama collections,etc.Among these creations,the novel has the highestachievement.Her representative novels include:Them,Black Water,The Falls and so on.
Oates,known as“American Balzac”and“Faulkner in a skirt”,has won countlessawards,such as,National Book Award,the O Henry Awards and etc.,and was awarded theNational Humanities Medal in 2010 in recognition of her outstanding contributions tosociety.She was even likely to win the Nobel Prize for Literature twice.
Absorbing the writing styles of varieties of literary masters and schools,Oatesinnovatively forms her own perse writing styles and techniques.Her works usuallyembody various creative techniques of realism,modernism,naturalism,eco-criticism,feminism,and postmodernism.Her works also have a wide range of themes and focus onsocial reality,and people at the bottom.Violence is the motif of her novel and it trulyexposes the violent acts and evil phenomena in the American society,which can be said tobe a panoramic picture of the American era,showing her deep concern for the fate ofhuman being.
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1.2 Research significance
Novels contain both time and space.To study the spatiality of novels is not toabandon the time factor,but to study the space formed on the basis of time.Zoran once putforward that there is no existence of self in the spatial dimension of text.The existenceand construction of texts are firstly in time.The so-called‘spatial schema’is thesuperstructure of substance with a basic structure in time order.There is no way to‘skip’the time factor in the narrative.Narrative,with all its components,is set in time,so we cantalk about a temporal arrangement of space to a certain degree(Zoran,1984:319-322).
This novel,named as The Falls,can tell the fact it is a spatial novel.Oates paysparticular attention to geographic differences and cities,meanwhile,space and cities aremain themes of her writing.Oates does not abandon the time factor,but makes abreakthrough in form and gives up the way of relying solely on time to advance theprogress of the novel.Therefore,the study of Oates’works from the perspective of spacecan be regarded as an important angle to understand the creation significance of The Falls.“The new interpretation of space concept in space theory provides a new angle andresearch method for exploring the sociality and politics of space in literature and culturaltexts”(Zheng,2016:89-97).
Currently,the studies of The Falls mostly are unfolded from feminism,eco-criticism,theme,narrative styles and ethics.And study from the perspective of spatial narrative isstill rare,so the study from spatial narrative is necessary,which not only provide a newangle for the study of narrative of The Falls,but also helps to understand Oates’s creativeworld.
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Chapter 2 Literature Revie
2.1 Studies on The Falls
The Falls was published in 2004 and was translated into Chinese in 2006.It isconsidered to be Oates’representative novel,and it has gained much popularity at homeand abroad.Studies on The Falls abroad mainly focus on themes,ecologism,writingstyles and so on.Studies on The Falls at home are mainly from eco-criticism,the identityand construction of characters,the writing style and so on.
2.1.1 Studies on The Falls abroad
The critical works on The Falls abroad are mainly published in 2004 and 2005 asreviews,which are not systematic,and the specific essays are still few.Most of reviewsunfold from following aspects.
Firstly,foreign scholars focus on the various themes of this novel.The theme analysismostly revolves around family relations,inpidual desire and nature pollution.Steinberg(2004)remarks on familiar themes of novel,it contains loneliness,desire,morbidpossessiveness,jealousy and revenge.Maslin claims that The Falls fused its family storywith the stuff of headlines and also thinks that The Falls is only a family story pivotingaround Ariah,Dirk and the three children of the Burnaby’s(Maslin,2004).Anotherscholar notes that Oates talks about class,injustice and the degeneration of the nature inthe novel(Rafferty,2004).Baskin figures out two intertwined themes of novel,the brokenfamily relations and Love Canal pollution(Baskin,2005).
Secondly,there are numerous analysis from the perspective of ecologism.Flynn(2004)discusses The Falls from the perspective of ecologism and insists The Falls notonly symbolizes the marriage and relationship of the Dirk family,but also reflects thedecline of the Dirk family by describing the decline caused by environmental damage inthe Niagara Falls region.Heltzel comments“in depicting a paradigm shift thatpermanently altered this country’s political and environmental awareness,The Fallsranked as one of her best”(Heltzel,2004).Dean(2006)holds the view that The Falls is asocial novel which not only depicts the lofty,solemn and mysterious power of The Falls,but also reflects the serious environmental pollution caused by American industry.
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2.2 Studies on application of spatial theory in literary works
Space is a hot topic in academic research at home and abroad and there have beenabundant theoretical achievements in spatial theory.Not only studies of The Falls,but alsostudies on the application of spatial theory in other literary works are beneficial to thewriting of this thesis.
2.2.1 Studies on application of spatial theory in literary works abroad
Much attention has been paid to applying spatial theory to the analysis of literaryworks by foreign scholars,meanwhile the relevant theories of spatial narrative areexplored and expanded.
On the basis of reviewing the research on the spatiality and temporality of narration,Bridgeman(2007)discusses the unique methods of narratology to study time and space,and further studies the impact of time and space on readers’reading.She focuses on theimportance of space in text construction and its significance for plot development,andbelieves that the same spatial range of protagonists is often related to the theme of exile orreturn.
Abbott Porter(2008)emphasizes that the text narration would bring a sense ofpicture,and readers would show the story pictures in their minds with the text.The spatialdescription of words,like time,has a large number of gaps,which creates readingsuspense.Only with the active participation of readers,these gaps can be filled.
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Chapter 3 Theoretical Foundation.............................12
3.1 The development of Spatial Narrative theory..................................12
3.2 Spatial theory of Henri Lefebvre and Gabriel Zoran.........................15
Chapter 4 Physical Space in The Falls............................19
4.1 The spatial variations promote the narrative process................................19
4.1.1 The Falls and the Rainbow Grand Hotel-the starting point of narrative....20
4.1.2 Luna Park-the pide of different fates..........................21
Chapter 5 Social Space in The Falls............................36
5.1 Ariah-a victim of patriarchal ideology...........................36
5.2 Gilbert and Dirk-martyrs of The Falls.............................41
Chapter 6 Textual space in The Falls
6.1 The selectivity of language-repetition
Zoran(1984)holds the view that language cannot exhaust all aspects of a particularobject and the fact that language cannot convey all information about space leads to aparticular scale of choice.The selectivity of language affects the spatial effect,which isenhanced by the use of a great deal of repetition in this novel.
Miller proposes that novels are composed of series of repetitions.He states that eachpart of the story has already happened repeatedly when the reader first encounters it,eitherin someone’s mind or in someone’s telling,or in the way it repeats other similar events inthe same person’s life or in the lives of the others(Miller,1982).
Repetition method is adopted in this novel,which contains word and sentencerepetition and recurring images.In spatial novels,the repetition breaks the originalnarrative process and slows down the original narrative rhythm,so that the novel presentsa static and stagnant spatial effect.
英语论文怎么写
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Chapter 7 Conclusion
7.1 Main findings and implications of research
The Falls is a very typical spatial novel.On the basis of close reading of the text,andunder the guidance of spatial theory of Lefebvre and Zoran,this thesis manages to make abrief analysis of physical space,social space and textual space in the novel.The threeaspects of space are investigated to restore Oates’construction of space in the creativeprocess.
First of all,physical space has a narrative function.The Falls and its surroundingsin the novel are no longer a mere geographical indication,but is involved in the narrative.The specific physical space carries the plot of the story and promotes the development ofnarrative.The fate and psychological fluctuations of the protagonist are showed throughthe space.What’s more,the typical space image of home has shaped the distinct charactersof Ariah and Claudine.
Secondly,social space has a very important thematic significance.It analyzes theoppression of different characters in the space and the consequences caused by theexcessive destruction of nature by humans from the perspective of social space.The spacehere is not only refers to living space of the characters,but also the construction andreproduction of various social relations.Ariah is a typical victim of patriarchal ideology,her role,job,and even her body are oppressed in such a space and only by self-awakeningcan she relief herself.And it is the operation of social space that cause the failure ofAriah’s two marriages.Death of Ariah’s two husbands shows their rebellion to injustice ofsocial space.The novel not only talks about how people live in social space,but alsoattaches great importance to the nature pollution.Oates shows the rebellion of charactersand expresses her pursuit of justice through the survival dilemma in different spaces.
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