A New Interpretation Of “Space Of Flows” Of Jonathan Safran Foer's Novels Everything Is Illuminated And Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Based on Henri Lefebvre's Space Production Theory,David Harvey's Time-Space Compression Theory,Edward Soja's “Thirdspace” Theory and Mike Crang's Cultural Geography,this thesis proposes a hypothesis of “Space of Flows” in Foer's writings,which is especially reflected in his recent novels Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.By means of close reading,deep reflection on literature and history and cultural analysis,the thesis tries to explore the novels from a spatial perspective to investigate“Space of Flows” through three questions: What are the spatial representations of“Space of Flows” in Foer's Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud &Incredibly Close? What are Foer's unique ways of expressing “Space of Flows”?What are the human predicaments reflected behind “Space of Flows”?On the basis of the above three questions,“Space of Flows” is characterized with“the shifting of physical space”,“the drifting of historical event”,and “the flowing spiritual space”.Secondly,Foer uses the unique ways of fragmentation of multiple narrative perspectives,juxtaposition of traumatic experiences,mythological pattern of spatial memory and visualization of spiritual space to present “Space of Flows”.Thirdly,the thesis researches “Space of Flows” in the context of human living conditions,attempting to dig out the relationship between forgetting and remembering in intergenerational trauma,to examine the human awareness of subjectivity and self-identity reconstruction after the catastrophes.The thesis finds out that the theme of Foer's writings is related to the clash of civilizations and human destiny.In fact,as a marginal ethnic group,the Jewish nation has been deprived of the voice to speak for a long time in history.However,Everything Is Illuminated actively constructs a post-memory of cultural utopia for the Holocaust and family history.In the aftermath of 9/11 attacks,people in New York City were in a state of confusion and disorder.Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close reflects the trajectories of subjectivity and self-identity reconstruction in public space and private space.By describing and recording historical disasters,Foer is not only trying to disclose the human predicaments but also rethinking memory of history and human destiny.Therefore,Foer shows his profound awareness of humanistic and brings a new inspiration on building the community with a shared future for mankind.