The Space In Shanghai

Kazuo Ishiguro is a well-known contemporary Japanese-British novelist and the 2017 Nobel laureate for literature.When We Were Orphans,written in 2000,is his fifth novel,telling the story of a British detective searching for his missing parents in Shanghai in the early 20 th century.This novel is one of the masterpieces of his “international” writing and also was nominated for the Booker Prize in 2000.This thesis analyzes the spatial heterogeneity of Shanghai in the 20 th century in When We Were Orphans with Foucault's theory of heterotopias and explores the different consciousness projected by people in the special space.As a kind of space theory,heterotopias theory provides a new researching perspective for text analysis.The thesis will give an elaborate interpretation about various heterotopias and their respective features emerged in the novel,including heterotopias of compensation,heterotopias of illusion,heterotopias of deviation,crisis heterotopias and heterochronies.Besides,the heterotopia influence on the protagonist Banks will also be explored,including his rethinking of British colonial culture,the redefinition of the image of Chinese people and the reposition of the self.Through the analysis of heterogeneous space,the collision between different civilizations and the personal identity issues in the mixed environment are highlighted.Through the analysis of When We Were Orphans with the theory of heterotopias,the author's writing intention and his profound reflection on colonial acts can be better revealed.In addition,we can also get a better idea of author's concern of individual's living conditions and mental state under the background of cultural collision and blending.With the development of times and society,exchanges and conflicts between different nationalities and civilizations are inevitable.It is the right choice for individuals to correctly position themselves and for countries to find a way of harmonious coexistence in the heterogeneous space so as to conform to the trend of historical development.