On the Spatial Narrative of “The Story of an Hour”

Abstract

“The Story of an Hour”, a short story written by American novelist Kate Chopin in the late 19th century, tells the psychological journey of Mrs. Mallard, the protagonist in an hour. Among the so many perspectives to study this story, spatial narrative is an important one. Based on relevant theories of spatial narrative, this paper attempts to explore the narrative art of space from the aspects of narrative of topographical space, mental space and textual space, and social space so as to provide a new way to interpret the story.