Location, location, location

Abstract

Young British novelist David Mitchell achieved fame in his first three novels, Ghostwritten, Number9dream and Cloud Atlas, published between 1999 and 2004, by using audacious narrative techniques involving a diffraction of the plot along a network of distinct locations scattered all over the globe. Exploiting the interplay between globalia (spaces characterized by their standardized features and their indifference to location) and localia (distinctive local features), his portrayal of our contemporary relation to space echoes the notion of co-spatiality produced by French geographer Jacques Lévy. Pushing the analysis further, Mitchell’s novels build upon the coexistence of screen-based and text-based modes of representation to showcase the multiple angles of our evolving relation to space. In contrast, his latest novel Black Swan Green, dedicated to the experience of growing up in the English countryside in the 80s, appears more traditional in form and intent.

Keywords

• Mitchell
• audio-visual
• co-spaciaity
• deterritorialisation
• globalia
• localia