Lost in space: an exploration in spatial reading

Abstract

Recent years have seen an upsurge of interest in ideas of space and spatiality, leading one critic to announce the existence of a field of "literary geography." This thesis attempts to contribute to this project by, firstly, looking at a range of thinkers who have put forward theories of space, and secondly, by attempting to draw out the internal problems with their theories, and also the problems that arise when one theory is set against another. This is done with the aim of gaining not only a set of insights into space, but also a sense of the difficulties and dilemmas accompanying the analysis of space. The insights gleaned from this opening chapter are then put to work in three readings of three novels that take place largely in London. The aim of these readings is to demonstrate what "spatial reading" can add to our understanding of literary texts, to demonstrate how texts rhetorically deal with space, shape it and put it to certain ideological ends and uses.