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DavidMalcolm
UniversityofGdańsk,Poland
LOCALUNIVERSES:SPACEINROBINJENKINS’S
THECONE-GATHERERS
ANDJAMESKENNAWAY’STUNESOFGLORY
1.Spaceandmeaninginnarratives
Spaceandthesubcategoryofplaceareimportantanalytictoolsin
theinterpretationofanynarrativetext.1Neithermayhaveenjoyed
thesametheoreticalandparticularattentionthatnarrator,time,or
intertextualreferencehave(Brosch123;Sławiński9;Abbott165),
butthereisawell-establishedtheoreticaltraditionofseeingspace
(sometimescloselylinkedtotime)asakeyfeatureofanyfictional
text,afeaturethatismeaning-filledandthat,readintelligently,re-
vealsimportantpossibilitiesofinterpretation.ForRomanIngarden,
forexample,spaceisanimportantelementofthestratumofrep-
resentedobjectsintheliterarytext,alongwithtime,persons,and
events(217-54).Indeed,spaceisoneofthe“representedobjectivi-
ties”thatallowsIngardentoadvancehistheorythatthoserepre-
sentedobjectivitiesinliteraturearedistinguishedfromthosein
1
Spaceandplacearenotthesamethoughtheyareusuallycloselyre-
lated.London,BuenosAires,andWarsawareplaces.Spaceistopographi-
callyconfigured,andcanońenbeunderstoodintermsofoppositions:high/
low;city/country;inside/outside,andsoon.Buttheoppositionalnatureof
topographyneednotalwaysbethecaseinaparticulartext(everythingcan
happeninthedepths,forexample),althoughtheoppositeofthatsettingis
alwaysimplied.Spaceisthemastercategory,however,andplaceisasubcat-
egoryofit.