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Title |
The Composite Space in Fiction |
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Author |
Fan, Ming-Ju |
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Distinguished Professor, Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature, National Chengchi University |
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Abstract |
There are visible and invisible codes embedded in the definition and function of space, embodying the order and value of social relations in human society. Small like the interior settlement or large as community scheme, it can be a personal foothold and evaluations of personal status even the norm of modernized countries. To correspond with the logic of social space, the setting and description in literature represent its imagination normally. It is said that everything has its own place, but spatial types and functions are often intermingled and compounded in realistic and fictional world. How do these composite, mixed, and fluid spaces form? What do they mean in narrative literature? What I called composite space in this essay is, a space with different uses, alters its function due to time, human factors or law. Generally speaking, the spots in fiction such as the family and company usually are private and public images or functions separately. The line in fictions, like the road, represents temporarily open space, a transitional public path or intermediary. However, there are lots of exceptions. Sometimes the uses of spots and lines are interchangeable, sometimes the definitions are mingled. The causes are complicated; some are personal factors, some are particular economic development or population distribution in history, some are acquiesced or encouraged by the government, and some are geographical conditions and regional geopolitical changes. The composite space is an outcome combined with geography, history and aesthetics. Hence, it serves as a window to view the development of Taiwanese society. This article will explore composite space from three aspects. The first section discusses multiple usages in the family space. The second section extends to analysis the hybrid of private and public space. The final section examines the functions of public space adjusted and changed with the times. The spatial practice formed in special cultural context shapes different spatial cognition, and contains aesthetic characters reconstructed specific time and space of Taiwan. |
