The Interpretation Of City Images In Dubliners From The Perspective Of Spatial Criticism

James Joyce(1882-1941)is considered as one of the most vital writers in the 20 th century.Joyce's literary career started from 1914,in which year he created Dubliners.The central theme of the short-story collection is “mental paralysis”.In the eyes of James Joyce,under the dual oppression and coercion of the British Empire and Catholicism,Dublin is a disaster-ridden city.However,it still flashes the light of hope.In Dubliners,spaces play a key role in presenting the city images and Dubliners' real mental state.Therefore,this thesis will interpret city Dublin,Dubliners' living conditions and their state of mind from the perspective of space,combined with the history,politics,religion to deepen the readers' understanding of Dubliners.Spatial criticism emerges in the late 20 th century.It is a new theory combined with cultural studies,geography and other postmodern literary criticism and takes spaces in literary works as its analysis objects.The representatives are Henri Lefebvre,Michel Foucault and Mike Crang.Taking Henri Lefebvre's spatial triad and Mike Crang's concept of symbolic landscapes as its theoretical basis,this thesis focuses on the analysis of typical urban spatial images and the mental state of the Dubliners in this work.Firstly,it analyzes spatial images in Dubliners,namely,outdoor spaces,indoor spaces and shift of protagonists' representational space.Secondly,this thesis explores the redemption of Dublin and Dubliners in the writing of James Joyce in this book.In conclusion,the spatial description displays a picture of gloomy,depressing Dublin and paralyzed Dubliners under the double oppression of the British Empire and Catholicism.Actually,James Joyce tells not only Dubliners' stories but the stories of all mankind who are going through the same situation,reflecting the sense of loss and alienation that all human beings are facing.The snow-covered city in the last story The Dead implicates the hope of redemption.With the analysis of the work,this thesis not only provides normal readers with a new perspective to comprehend Dubliners but also offers a reference to scholars,critics who also study spatial criticism.