Geocriticism: Space in Literature & Literature in Space
Geocriticism
displays the creative interaction between geography and the humanities.
Bertrand
Westphal, 2007. La géocritique: Réel fiction espace. Minuit.
Bertrand
Westphal, Geocriticism: Real and Fictional Space, translated by Robert T. Tally
Jr. 2011. Palgrave Macmillan.
贝尔唐·韦斯特法尔, 地理批评：真实、虚构、空间，高方、路斯琪和张倩格译，北京联合出版公司，2023.
Conkan,
Marius, and Daiana Gârdan.2020. Space in Literature and Literature in Space.
Introduction. Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory 6.1Sources:https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230119161
https://www.metacriticjournal.com/article/148/space-in-literature-and-literature-in-spaceLiterature
abounds with the depiction and exploration of spaces. The spaces depicted in
literature may be based on real places, such as Dostoevsky's St. Petersburg or
Mark Twain's Mississippi River, or they may be entirely fictional, such as
More's Utopia or Tolkien's Middle Earth. However, in most cases, the two are
combined, as the literary representation of seemingly real places is never a
mere replication of those spaces. The fictional spaces in literature can not
only represent real spaces but also participate in the construction of real
spaces.Professor
Bertrand Westphal of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Limoges,
France, in his book “Geocriticism: Real and Fictional Space”, translated by
Robert T. Tally Jr." (hereinafter referred to as
"Geocriticism"), combines the representation of real places with the
fictional spaces in literature to depict a world picture.In
"Geocriticism," Westphal comprehensively discusses the theory and
methodology of geocriticism in literary criticism, analyzing the interplay
between literary texts and spatial practices, and revealing the socio-cultural
dynamics of the relationship between space in literature and literature in
space.In
addition to literary criticism and cultural studies, the arguments and discussions
in "Geocriticism" draw on theories and concepts from multiple
disciplines, including philosophy, sociological theory, geography,
architecture, urban planning, urban studies, film, and gender studies. The
extensive citation and review of multidisciplinary theoretical viewpoints are
wide-ranging and comprehensive. The proposal of the geocritical methodology is
profoundly influenced by the spatial turn that has swept through the social
sciences and humanities since the 1970s. Modernism and postmodernism have
fundamentally changed our understanding of space, no longer viewing it as a
stable category but as a complex and heterogeneous practice.The
spatial turn was initiated by Michel Foucault's "archaeology" and
"heterotopology," as well as Henri Lefebvre's Marxist critique of
"the production of space." The origins of spatial analysis can also
be traced back to Mikhail Bakhtin's chronotopic inquiries, Gaston Bachelard's
poetics of space, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's poststructuralist
geophilosophy, Edward Said and Homi Bhabha's postcolonial critique, and the
feminist theories developed by Gloria Anzaldúa and Doreen Massey.Geocriticism
attempts to map out the heterogeneity of global spaces at the intersection of
literature and socio-political structures to reveal "the role of place in
the life of literature, and the role of literature in the production of
place." Geocriticism, with its geocentric focus, showcases the creative
interaction between geography and the humanities.In
the first three chapters of this book, Westphal outlines the theoretical stance
of geocriticism: Chapter 1 "Spatiotemporality," Chapter 2
"Transgressivity," and Chapter 3 "Referentiality." These
chapters prioritize space, as spatiotemporality, transgressivity, and
referentiality form the conceptual framework of geocriticism.Chapter
1, "Spatiotemporality," discusses how metaphors of time have
gradually become spatialized after World War II, and how space has regained
value and prominence, surpassing time, which once dominated literary criticism
and theory.Chapter
2, "Transgressivity," addresses the fluidity of contemporary space
and explores whether there exists a state of continuous crossing—a
transgressivity that makes all spaces fully fluid. Transgression refers to
crossing a boundary, beyond which there is a certain degree of freedom. When
transgression becomes a constant principle, it turns into transgressivity.
Transgression creates heterogeneity, which in turn leads to polychrony (the combination
of different temporalities) and polytopy (the combination of different
spatialities). Polytopy is space understood in its plurality.Chapter
3 examines referentiality, the essence of the relationship between the real and
the fictional, and between world spaces and textual spaces. It builds an
analogy between the so-called "objective" real world and the
abstract, textual world. Literary places are virtual worlds that interact flexibly
with the referential world. The degree of conformity between literary places
and the referential world can vary infinitely. Reference and its representation
are interdependent, even mutually interactive.Chapter
4, "Elements of Geocriticism," discusses the methodology of
geocriticism. Westphal points out that geocriticism comprises four elements:
(1) Multifocalization, which requires establishing literary space from
different perspectives; (2) Polysensoriality, as the perception of space is not
limited to vision but also includes smell, hearing, etc.; (3) Stratographic
Vision, where places are understood to contain multiple layers of meaning,
deterritorialized and reterritorialized; and (4) Intertextuality, where all
textual spaces necessarily include and interact with other spaces in literature
and reality.The
final chapter, Chapter 5, "Reading spaces," examines the importance
of the text in the construction of place and transforms the spatiality of the
text into the readability of space.I
find Chapter 1, "Spatiotemporality," particularly enlightening
regarding the evolution of the concepts of time and space and their relative
positions since the 19th century to the present. Therefore, the following
excerpt focuses mainly on the discussions related to spatiotemporality.What
do we mean by space? A priori, space is a concept that encompasses the
universe; it is oriented toward the infinitely large or reduced to the
infinitely small, which is itself infinitely and infinitesimally vast.One
could propose two basic approaches to visible spaces, one rather abstract, the
other more concrete: the first would encompass conceptual space and the second
factual place. However, these are not mutually exclusive, if only because the
line between space and place is always shifting. Space and place are conflated
in the concept of “human space”.This
concept of space allows for a more dynamic or transgressive movement that
literature explores in the always problematic representation of space, in which
the lines between fictional and real spaces are constantly crossed and
recrossed.Spatiotemporality：space counterattacks timeThe
spatiotemporal revolution took place around 1945. After the Second World War,
time and space became less ambitious, more tentative: the instants do not flow
together at the same duration; in the absence of hierarchy, durations multiply;
the line is split into lines; time is here-after superficial. The perception of
historical time was overtaken by the relative laws of space-time. After 1945,
this view of time and space was brought home to people everywhere. The concept
of temporality that had dominated the prewar period had lost much of its
legitimacy…there is a weakening of historicity, which does not mean the end of
history (e.g., in the vision of Francis Fukuyama) or even the weakening of the
historical. History continues its march... But this movement no longer
signifies an unswerving and progressive straight line; blown by such
unpredictable winds, history can go forward, turn in circles, or cross and
recross its own paths…Synchrony seems to take precedence over diachrony. Events
are crammed into the present…The
spatialization of time was one of the means of “counterattack” or “striking
back” of space against time, or of geography against history.In
certain cases, at issue was not the balance between the two coordinates of time
and space, but the assertion of temporal rule without giving space its fair
share.In
“Of Other Spaces,”Michel Foucault notes that, if the nineteenth century was
dominated by a grand obsession with history, the contemporary epoch of the late
twentieth century is an era of spatiality.Space
has become caught between a logic of partition and a culture of the border. In
other circumstances, this mobility emerges not as a negative condition but as
creative, spontaneous activity…Ultimately, space appears as heterogeneous as
time.At
the beginning of the twenty-first century, the coordinates of time and space
must be correlated; certainly, they are inextricably meshed. While it is still
conceivable to isolate time from space, or history from geography, it seems
intransigent or unwise to deliberately keep the two dimensions separate…The
reign of a sovereign and autonomous temporality is completed, and the
“counterattack” of space has led to a reweighing. It is now necessary to bury
time and space in order to make room for space-time.Geocriticism
is a method of examining the representation of fictional spaces, whether in
literature, film, art, photography, or other forms. Moreover, geocriticism
seeks to establish connections between representations and what we sometimes
call the real elements of things. These latter elements constitute reality and
act as carriers of the "model," even though reality is never an
absolute model, as it is also shaped by the representations it produces,
whether textual, visual, or auditory. In other words, there may be an
interaction between different elements and the various levels of what we
habitually define as reality.Our
clear understanding of the world is minimal; we almost always live through the
filter of representations we possess, which acts like a heavy curtain in a
dimly lit theater."Geocriticism"
marks the starting point of a determined journey ahead, one that is both
geographical and scientific. The methodology is already in place, but content
is needed—to acquire content, one must increase their experience of the world
or, as the Swiss traveler Nicolas Bouvier once said, make use of the world.
Travel, travel as much as possible, but also travel through the texts and
knowledge of others, read, and understand the world using the feeble means
humans have when faced with the overwhelming infinite. Both are indispensable.
Faced with this situation, regardless of whether people wish to accumulate or
have already accumulated all knowledge, what they can represent is minimal,
insignificant. However, this "insignificance" is worth striving for
and engaging in ambitious, even reckless, endeavors.Human
beings have only drawn a negligible sample from the universe and the surging
infinite energy; they are mere accidental spectators of the latter two... A bit
lost, slightly dizzy, infinitely respectful of what alienation brings, breaking
free from the instinctual reactions of ethnocentrism.The
first premise of geocritical theory states that time and space share a common
plan, subject to an entirely oscillatory logic whereby the fragmentary ceases
to be oriented to a coherent whole. The second premise of geocriticism is that
the relationship between the representation of space and real space is
indeterminate. Rather than considering a spatial or spatiotemporal representation
as not “real,” we view every representation (whether literary, iconographic,
etc.) as referring to a broadly imagined reality that, in and through its
extreme extension, is subject to a weak ontology. From these two premises, we
understand that space cannot be understood except in its heterogeneity.Geocriticism
tends to favor a geocentered approach, which places place at the center of
debate.The
four cardinal points of the geocritical approach include multifocalization,
polysensoriality, stratigraphy, and intertextuality.Geocriticism
can play an important role, since geocriticism operates somewhere between the
geography of the “real” and the geography of the “imaginary” . . .two quite
similar geographies that may lead to others, which critics should try to
develop and explore.
1."we
do not know if it [i.e., space] is infinite or not, we do not know if it moves
toward contraction or infinite dilation, we do not know what form it has . . .
We just know that it has little to do with the psychological experience we have
of it, and it calls for more intellect than perception."— Hervé Regnauld，L'espace，une vue de l'esprit？![]()
2."He
believed in an infinite series of times, in a dizzily growing, ever spreading
network of diverging, converging, and parallel times. This web of time—the
strands of which approach one another, bifurcate, intersect or ignore each
other through the centuries—embraces every possibility. We do not exist in most
of them. In some you exist and not I, while in others I do, and you do not, and
in yet others both of us exist."
— Jorge Luis Borges,
Ficcion
CityReads ∣Notes On Cities"CityReads", a subscription account on WeChat,
posts our notes on city reads weekly.
Please follow us by searching "CityReads"
