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The places of narrative

Explore the role of physical and spatial descriptions in narrative structure, examining how authors create meaning through the setting and interplay of different spaces. Discover how our understanding of place is intrinsically tied to our embodiment and the language of the body.

cynthiah
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The places of narrative

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  1. The places of narrative Part One of an introduction to a theory of spatial/physical structure in narrative

  2. Thomas a Kempis • Like many Christian theologians, Thomas a Kempis held to the view that the body is “corruptible” and drags down the mind.

  3. Death and the body • It is through the body that death is introduced into Christian thought, since the body is the locus for decay, the place where death occurs.

  4. Christianity often posits a split between “the inner life” and the outer life. The inner life is characterised as unchanging, indivisible, perfect, whole and has to do with the soul, mind… …the outer life, on the other hand, as frail, corruptible, changing, fragmented and has to do with the body. Christian Views

  5. Thomas a Kempis Quote • “The inner life of man is greatly hindered in this life by the needs of the body…Woe to those who refuse to recognise their own wretchedness, and doubly woe to those who love this miserable and corruptible life!” (Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, pg.55)

  6. Brain Science • The hippocampus is an area of the brain which is shaped like a sea horse (hence the name). It plays a part in memory and is affected in Alzheimer's patients.

  7. More brain science Both the hippocampal regions and the parietal lobes are believed to play a part in spatial orientation. When an animal moves about in its environment it builds up a mental map, which may involve remembering places by the objects encountered there and the experiences that are to be had there.

  8. Thinking about place • It is difficult to think about a place without thinking about things, or experiences, events, which took place there.

  9. Abstract thought • Thinking about concepts like soul, mind, or whatever, also relies upon physical and spatial experience. • No abstract concept can be described without recourse to physical/spatial terms. • There is no purely abstract language that does not rely upon physical properties.

  10. Narrative • When we put together an argument, or a poem, a short story, or novel, we use physical and spatial descriptions to structure them. • It is my contention that narratives are constructed using physical and spatial information from our everyday experience and, therefore, that the language of “the mind” is the language of the body.

  11. Conclusion • To be implaced – to be in a place, or in places – is to be embodied; that is, it is our body that gives us information on space/place. • So, even for Thomas a Kempis, a description of the Divine can only be meaningful through an understanding of the body. If you denigrate the body, you undermine any description of the Divine.

  12. To be continued… • In the next slideshow, I will focus on the notion of text-worlds and how spatial information is used to structure meaning. • I will look at some examples of how authors structure a story by setting up discrete spaces and, also, how they try and define a mid-space, or interplay, that connects one space with another.

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