ALEKSANDROS FOMINOS ROMANO „MES VAKAR BUVOM SALOJE“ ERDVĖ
The Space of Alexandra Fomina’s Novel “Mes vakar buvom saloje”

Summary/Abstract: Theorists of narrative claim that time and space are parts of narrative fabric, affecting our basic understanding of a text and the way in which we build mental images of what we read. Yet most definitions foreground time at the expense of space. Because of this, narrative space remains a relatively unexplored territory. This analysis focuses on three narrative concepts: space, spatial schemata – container – and description. Theoretical approaches are based on works of such narrative theorists as British Teresa Bridgeman, Americans Marie Laurie Ryan and Ruth Ronen. The main ideas which this article holds on are such: container is an essential concept to our understanding of inside and outside of narrative (a whole narrative may be constructed on whether protagonists are inside or outside it); description in narrative is much more than just a decoration – it may have an impact on the meaning, interpretation, and perception of the text. In this paper, using Aleksandra Fomina’s novel “Mes vakar buvom saloje” (2011) as a case study, it is explored what space and containers mean in this narrative, how do they affect the reader and his perception of depicted narrative world. Here it is presumed that a closer look to the space, containers and its description of the novel “Mes vakar buvom saloje” may reveal different interpretation of the novel. Postcolonialism based on propositions of American narrative theorist Patrick Williams is also invoked in the analysis. Postcolonial approach to this narrative provides opportunities to relate themes developed in the novel (the reality of post- Soviet country, emigration, problematical identity of a colonized subject, questions of historical memory) with wider cultural context. Analysis focuses on such narrative space and containers as: islands – the island of Nemunas, Great Britain, Soviet Union as an island; house identified as “Karaliaus Mindaugo Proto Bokštas” (“The tower of mind of King Mindaugas”); Kaunas; London; squatts etc. In order to investigate what these containers mean, it is important to take notice to whom it belongs to, when, where and how it is depicted and who can enter it as well. Just for the wider perspective, article also discusses quite a different spatial form of narrative – spatial extension of the text – which refers to the spatiality of the text as a material object and to the readers interface with it.

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