The Limits Of Space And The Experience Of Modernity: Understanding The Ballad Of The Sad Café

In the history of American literature in the 20 th century,Carson Mc Cullers was one of the most significant southern writers.The Ballad of the Sad Café,published in 1946,is one of the Carson Mc Cullers’ most eminent works.This novel is based on the triangle relations among two men and a woman in the southern town,whose love stories are affected by the shift of space.In the meantime,the space shift also reflects the history of the shift of space limits in the modern society.There is a common place created by Carson Mc Cullers among her works----café.The café is a special space between the residence and working setting,the appearance of which changes the limits of those two spaces.This dissertation is going to analyze the space shift in The Ballad of the Sad Café,explore the relations between the limits of the space and the experience of modernity and recognize the influence of the third space on the modernity based on the American socialist Ray Oldenburg’s “the third space” theory.Ray Oldenburg holds the view that the third space is the social space between home and working place where people can relax,entertain and communicate,including cafés,bookstores,bars,saloons,barbershops and some centers of community.The third space is a low profile with easy accessibility and accommodation.Meanwhile,it’s a leveler place with playful mood for people to communicate,and it is a home away from home which gives people spiritual enjoyment.Since 1950 s,Carson Mc Cullers’ work has drawn a lot of attention from the scholars at home and abroad.Almost all of attention is focused on the themes,which were mentioned in the “The Flowering Dream: Notes Writing” in 1959,the historicity of texts and political discourse system in the novel.This dissertation will pay much attention to the space where the heroine stayed and which was changed from store to café then to attic,especially the people and things in the changing space.The café,as a typical third space,is a turning point of the space function,of the heroine’s love and also of the social historic backgrounds.Originally,people experienced modernity as a shift in time from old to new,but now it can also be discussed from the perspective of space.The changes of the experience of space are the results of modernization.In the process of modernization,the changes of the limitations among the home space and working space bring people various life experience.Therefore,modernity is the root of human’s emotional crisis.And the third space is the place of condolence for the lonely humans and the emotional bond of demarcated spaces.This paper is going to discuss the relations between the limits of spaces and experience of modernity as the following aspects:The first part is an introduction to Carson Mc Cullers and The Ballad of the Sad Café,meanwhile,it makes a literature review of Carson Mc Cullers’ s works,and discusses the research status of The Ballad of the Sad Café at home and abroad.Through analyzing the writing of space in her works,her thinking about modernity becomes clear to us.After the popularity of modernization in Europe,the modernization began to prevail in the southern town.The change of life attracted Carson Mc Cullers’ attention,and she began to observe people’s life and discussed the modernity from the space angle according to humans’ experience.The second part discusses the three spaces,the store,the café and the attic and then explores the typical features of each space respectively.The implied social backgrounds and the physical and social attributes of each space will become clear by analyzing the features of modern human’s life.According to the historical development of society,this part discusses the progress of the modernization reflected by the space shift.During the process of the modernization,café emerged as a hangout place different from the home and working setting.The third part illustrates the relations between the changes of the limits among spaces and the modernity.Because of the space shift,the limit between the home and working place changes as well,and this brings different experience of space to people in the town.The physical attribute of the third space can be explained and narrated;at the same time,as the modern spiritual structure,it is a representation of the modern space,modern human’s experience and the meaning of the modern life.The space shift is the process of modernization,while people’s experiences are the experience of modernity.The fourth part clarifies the relations between the third space and the experience of modernity.This part discloses Mc Cullers writing essence of the third space and her nostalgia towards the past agricultural society and her reservations towards the modernity through tracking the relations between the time and experience,and the space and experience in her writing.The café,as third space,is a temporary resting place,a consoling place for the modern human’s emotions and the bond for the continuity of the modernity.The last part is a conclusion.This part makes a review of Mc Cullers’ writing of the third space,and discloses the research meaning about the third space writing to the modernity,and finally this part also discusses the literary value and practical significance of Mc Cullers’ spatial writing.