Structurallists and Poststructuralists on Narrative Space: The Shift from Character to Reader

Abstract

The recent experimental spatial turn in geography has developed a plethora of interdisciplinary theories of space. Concerning this turn, studying space, which had previously been subordinated to the study of time in narrative, necessitates the examination of space in the context of poststructuralist narratology rather than classical narratology. The reconstruction of the structure of space in the temporal continuum of the textual language is limited and depicted in the mind of the reader in association with his or her spatial experiments. Regarding the few Persian studies about place, space, and literary geography, there is no examination of the effects of the experimental spatial turn in the structure of space in narrative. The present research in narratology, whilst comparing the proposed spatial terms of the structuralist and poststructuralist studies, attempts to shed light on the importance of the character and reader in the overall structure of the space that has been influenced by the suggested experimental turn.

Keywords

• فضا – روایت – ساختارگرایان - پساساختارگرایان