A Study On Graham Swift's Waterland From The Perspective Of Spatial Narrative

Graham Swift is one of the most important British writers in the twentieth century.As a prolific writer,he has made a deep analysis of historical issues,including the history of human,nation,country as well as that of individual and family.Since its publication in 1983,Waterland has won wide acclaim for its ambiguity in genres and complexity in narrative strategies.As for the research on Waterland,most scholars tend to interpret it from the perspectives of historical metafiction,intertextuality and trauma theory,and few approach it from spatial narrative.This thesis will study Waterland from the perspective of spatial narrative,under the guidance of Gabriel Zoran‘s theory of space and Mikhail Bakhtin‘s theory of chronotope,discussing its profound theme and consummate narrative skill so as to offer a new perspective for study of the novel.On the basis of the stratification of space by Zoran and the theory of chronotope by Bakhtin,the thesis makes a study of Waterland from three levels.The first level is the topographical level,through which the present author reveals Swift‘s historical view expressed by a metaphorical way.The second one is the chronotopic level of Bakhtin,on the basis of which the thesis analyzes different kinds of chronotope,discussing their important roles in the expression of the theme.The third level is the textual level,in which such narrative skills as juxtaposition,fragmentation,circle structure and duration are analyzed to reveal their functions in plot development and characterization of the novel.From the above-mentioned analysis,it is concluded that on the one hand,the spatial narrative strategies make the text obscure,but on the other hand,they enrich its meaning and express the writer‘s opinion on history that history is closely related to human beings and exerts a great influence on them.