Abstract
Abstract of thesis
Portrayals of Space and Identity in the Fiction of Elizabeth Bowen and Alice Munro
By Anne Marie Hagen
This thesis examines the mutually influencing relationship between space and identity through close readings of four fictional texts. The texts in question are The Last September (1929) and A World of Love (1955) by Elizabeth Bowen and The Peace of Utrecht from the short story collection Dance of the Happy Shades (1968) and The Love of a Good Woman from the collection The Love of a Good Woman (1998) by Alice Munro.
I explore how individual identity and space construct each other through an analysis of how the characters interact with the spaces they inhabit. In particular I consider the enclosed spaces of the house, the demesne (in the case of the Bowen novels) and the small town and how characters respond to the normative values conveyed through these spaces.