چكيده
Based on the conventional theories of time, one of the narrative techniques was to change the temporal order of events by different analepses and prolepses. Considering the common fact that time flows in a fixed direction, one could see the difference between the time of fiction and the temporal time. But postmodernist literature subverts all previous narrative spatio-temporal theories and imposes concepts of fracturing, fragmentation, and indeterminacy upon the narrative to bring about flickering temporal and spatial constructs. Being strongly influenced by the climate of postmodernism, John Barth, an American writer, wrote his two postmodernist collections of short stories, “Lost in the Funhouse” and “On with the Story: Stories,” in which he manipulated time and space through narration and brought them to the foreground. His short stories also contain games with time and space so much so that they form the general structure of his stories. As far as temporality is concerned, Barthian narratives are often non-linear and non-realistic: there is a discrepancy between the narrated time and the temporal time in their narration, and the order and frequency of events are playfully dealt with. When it comes to the question of space in his narratives, Barth’s postmodernist rendering of space divides a finite distance into an infinite number of small distances which bring about boundless and unlimited narrative spatiality. As a consequence of such a “play” with time and space, there exists a kind of instability in Barth’s narrative world. In other words, the modal structure of the narrative world is questioned and undermined by the spatio-temporal uncertainty induced by the narrative. Therefore, in this thesis an attempt is made to show how Barth’s postmodernist attitude towards time and space in his short stories has shaped his narratives and readers’ reactions.
