| Abstract [eng] |
This master’s thesis analyses the prose of Valdas Papievis (b. 1962), a Lithuanian writer living in France, using the methods offered by urban studies. Previously, Papievis’ work has been studied mainly in the context of émigré literature, including the influence of spatial structures on the formation of the subject’s identity. This work is an attempt to discuss the broader network of characters created by Papievis, to evaluate their interaction with the environment, and to reveal its influence on the entire narrative. This work examines four novels written during the author’s stay in Paris: “Vienos vasaros emigrantai” (“The Emigrants of One Summer”, 2003), “Eiti” (“To Go”, 2010), “Odilė, arba Oro uostų vienatvė” (“Odilė, or the Loneliness of Airports”, 2015), and “Ėko” (“Ėko”, 2021). The aim of the thesis is to reveal the relationship between space and character and the ways of its articulation in Valdas Papievis’ Paris novels. The interpretative path of the work concerns the insights on the relationship between humans and their environment by Kevin Lynch, Roland Barthes, and Michel de Certeau. The analysis of four Papievis’ Paris novels is presented in the second part of the thesis. The discussion of “The Emigrants of One Summer” focuses on the relationship between the image of the map and the structure of the work, on the conflict between creative and everyday life reflected in the depicted spaces, on the vanishing boundaries between public and private spaces, and on the influence of those spaces on relationships between characters. The discussion elaborates on the significance of panoramas on the level of both character and narrative. In “To Go” there is a notable discrepancy between the dynamics of the protagonist’s physical movements and the dynamics of his psychological states. The oppositions between the ways of travelling become mirrors of his inner world, just like the house Papievis portrays and through which he narrates the protagonist’s entire life. The analysis of “Odilė, or the Loneliness of Airports” focuses on the relationship between the characters and unstoppable passage of time, which is expressed through spatial structures. Papievis creates relationships between the characters by merging and separating the spaces they use, and by creating juxtapositions between different places of residence and ways of movement. “Ėko” establishes the relationship between the human and the city. There are two important distinctions at this point: between real and imaginary spaces and between the city and nature. The spaces in question are those that are not used for their intended purpose and which often become manifestations of anarchist ideology. The thesis concludes that the protagonist’s relationship to space is built between the two positions of urban experience distinguished by de Certeau – observation of panorama and walking. The human identity is formed in relation to the environment and its shifts coincide with the representation of spaces. The protagonist travels following planned and casual routes, which become the basis for the structure of the analysed novels. The theme of the search for the meaning of life is expressed through the protagonist’s ceaseless movement. Urban architecture acquires not only a practical but also an emotional function. On the narrative level, urban objects raise broad questions about art, cosmopolitanism, religion, history, and consumerism. There are regular correlations between the properties and practices of space and the inner feelings of characters. The pace of movement determines what a character will actualise in their environment. The ways in which people move are indicative of their psychology – slow walking is contrasted with haste. Moving along both horizontal and vertical trajectories is important – the characters stop searching and wandering only when they see the skyline of a city. |
