Joseph Heller(1923-1999)’s celebrated novel Catch-22(1961)portrays the predicament of an individual,Captain John Yossarian of the 256th US Army Air Squadron,drifting apart in a helpless prodigious world.The absurdity...Joseph Heller(1923-1999)’s celebrated novel Catch-22(1961)portrays the predicament of an individual,Captain John Yossarian of the 256th US Army Air Squadron,drifting apart in a helpless prodigious world.The absurdity and ludicrousness of the reconstructed world is strengthened by the elements of space in the narrative text.Drawing on Gabriel Zoran’s model of structuring of space within the fictional world,this essay analyzes the three levels of the structuring of space,namely the topographical level,the chronotopic level,and the textual level,and their functions in the novel.Topographical structures magnify the despair and deadly threats prevalent during wartime,whereas chronotopic structures underscore individual’s active endeavours and spiritual renewal in the face of institutional coercion.Textual structures,with three aspects of the text,the essential selectivity of language,the linearity of the text,and the point of view,bring forward the picture of the personal agony embedded in the grand establishment.展开更多
文摘Joseph Heller(1923-1999)’s celebrated novel Catch-22(1961)portrays the predicament of an individual,Captain John Yossarian of the 256th US Army Air Squadron,drifting apart in a helpless prodigious world.The absurdity and ludicrousness of the reconstructed world is strengthened by the elements of space in the narrative text.Drawing on Gabriel Zoran’s model of structuring of space within the fictional world,this essay analyzes the three levels of the structuring of space,namely the topographical level,the chronotopic level,and the textual level,and their functions in the novel.Topographical structures magnify the despair and deadly threats prevalent during wartime,whereas chronotopic structures underscore individual’s active endeavours and spiritual renewal in the face of institutional coercion.Textual structures,with three aspects of the text,the essential selectivity of language,the linearity of the text,and the point of view,bring forward the picture of the personal agony embedded in the grand establishment.
