meta carto semiotics

Journal for Theoretical Cartography

(Vol. 5; 2012)
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Spatial turn: On the Concept of Space in Cultural Geography and Literary Theory
Ernest W. B. Hess-Lttich (Bern, Switzerland)
<hess@germ.unibe.ch>, <www.germanistik.unibe.ch/personen/hess/>

The paper discusses the impact of the spatial turn (topographical turn, topological turn) in the field of (German) literary studies, indicated by such terms as 'literary cartography', 'mapping', 'literary topography', 'heterotopes of literature' etc. These terms have been adopted from other disciplines in which they operate in quite different terminological networks. The paper, therefore, follows the development of this approach back to its roots in earth sciences (especially geo-spheres) and summarises the changes of the notion of space from traditional geography to current socio-cultural anthropology. This includes looking at its metaphorical application to other spheres of knowledge. Space as a literary concept is confronted with the use of the term in its original context and the consequences of the 'spatial turn' in the current debate in literary theory in the German speaking countries. But instead of outlining the tradition of such approaches since the 18 th century in Germany, the paper draws the attention to the approach of Jurij M. Lotman, who understands text as a culture-specific code for space, and symbolic space in literature as a result of culturally specific uses of signs. The comparison between the notions of space in cultural geography and literary theory also allows for a critical comment on some approaches which may be useful for 'literatourism' but do not suffice for the semiotic integration of topological relations into Lotman's concept of text, which allows literary texts to be read as media of cultural self-interpretation and symbolic models of spatial perception. Keywords: concepts o space, spatial turn in cultural geograph!, literar! theor! and te"tual anal!sis, #. $otman%s approach

1. Introduction and overview

&he popularl! used metaphor o 'te"t as space( raises )uestions in relation to narratolog! and scienti ic approaches to te"tual anal!sis. So it was that numerous linguistic turns( iconic turns( cultural turns, etc., were ollowed b! a spatial turn * a term the impact o which can also be seen in the ield o literature based on the increasing popularit! o such +ogue terms as ,literar! cartograph!,, ,mapping,, ,literar! topograph!,, ,heterotopes o literature, etc. -n literar! theor! the discussion about terminolog! so ar appears still more attracti+e than the actual application o te"tual anal!sis o gi+en literar! te"ts . .hile representati+e concepts rom other disciplines, which occur in completel! di erent terminological rameworks, are being heedlessl! adopted into literar! theor!, all kinds o eddies and undercurrents are alread! emerging. /or instance, those terms which especiall! address the technical and cultural representation schemes o spatialit! (e.g. topographical turn), and which are not to be con used with e orts that concentrate on describing literar! spaces and spatial structures in aesthetic products (e.g. topological turn). 0s is not surprising or our pro ession, such attempts naturall! make or man! orerunners in the ield (running rom $essing through 1arl ried +. 23rckheim and 4rnst 5assirer to 6tto /riedrich Bollnow, to name but a ew). 5ontrar! to such sub7ect8centred, primaril!
). *. +. ,ess%-.ttich/ !patial Turn
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phenomenological approaches, #uri7 9. $otman regards the s!mbolic space o literature as a result o a culturall! speci ic usage o signs . $otman percei+es an analogous relationship between the narrati+e te"t as an a0stract model o realit! and the respecti+e 'world +iew( o a gi+en culture. :e then carries o+er his semantic model o space into a pragmatic, i.e. cultural and historical conte"t. 9! contribution ollows this discussion, pursuing it, howe+er, be!ond the disciplinar! borders as ar as its origins within the space8oriented earth sciences. -t summaril! recaps changes o the notion o space rom traditional geograph! up to the contemporar! cultural geograph!. Spatialisation o social circumstances (and their +isualisation) and the (o ten metaphorical) transmission o this approach to other areas o knowledge (c . Bourdieu,s des e ets de lieu as an e"ample or a ,space trap,) also appertain. /urthermore, the occupation o literar! sciences with space is con ronted with space concepts rom earth sciences. -ts ;<th centur! roots, as well as the continuance in irst phenomenological, and later semiotic approaches right up to the conse)uences o the so8called spatial turn in toda!=s debate o literar! theor! shall be re+ealed. -n the attempt o creating a s!nthesis, possible points o contact between literar! (respecti+el! literar! and te"tual theoretical) and culture geographical space concepts shall be probed. 0dditionall! (in recourse to /oucault,s 'histoire d,espace(), the premises or a contemporar! understanding o ,space, under the sign o a balance o tension o globalisation and regionalisation, o non8located medial networks and local assertion o identit! shall be pro iled in order to inall! e"pose literar! te"ts as media o cultural8speci ic codes and s!mbolisations o ,space,. &he resumpti+e comparison o culture geographical and literar! theoretical conceptualisations o spatial relations also ensures the base or a critical re lection o numerous contemporar! e orts, which occasionall! ma! be suitable or 'literatouristical illustration(, but do not alwa!s ul il the theoretical demands, which the! ormulate themsel+es. -n contrast, the recognitional potential o a cooperation between culture geographical and literar! topographies seems hitherto to ha+e been e"hausted 7ust as little as that o a semiotic integration o topological relations in (literar!) te"ts as model shaping s!stems (in the sense o #uri7 $otman), which re erence the world +iew o a respecti+e culture as abstract (aesthetic) models o realit!. -nso ar as literar! te"ts can be read as media o culture speci ic sel 8 interpretation and as testimonies o altered (and changeable) perceptions o space, the interest in literar! spaces also gains in rele+ance or a topical conceptualisation, or instance, o intercultural >erman studies.;

/or her help in ac)uiring materials in the ramework o her pro7ect - would like to thank lic. phil. 0nna >ermann (?ni+ersit! o Bern)@ or his critical reading rom a natural scienti ic point o +iew - would like to thank the geologist Aro . 2r.8-ng. 2ieter 2. >enske (?ni+ersit! o $iechtenstein and Bordhausen ?ni+ersit! o 0pplied Sciences). /or his translation o the paper - would like to thank 1e+in 9c$oughlin. * &his contribution results rom a lecture which - held on the CD rd 6ctober CEEF in &allin (4stonia) in the rame o a con erence acilitated b! the 4uropean ?nion on 'Spatialit! and Gisualisation o 5ulture8/Bature8HelationshipsI &heoretical 0spects (Huum 7a ilme looduskultuurisI teooriast)(, a >erman +ersion o which was published CE;E in the Jearbook o intercultural >erman Studies ( Jahr0uch 1eutsch als 2rem3sprache DK LCEEFMI ;;N8;C<). &he interest in the sub7ect was irst stimulated b! the cooperation between the sections on 4e3ia !tu3ies and )n5ironmental !tu3ies o the 6erman 7ssociation of !emiotic !tu3ies , the results o which were published in a special issue o 8o3i9as:Co3e on 1ie 8artographie 3es Verh.llten. +r.c9enschl;ge <=ischen "atur% un3 8ultur=issenschaften : The Cartography of the 1isguise3. +ri3ging !cience an3 ,umanities (>enske, :ess8$3ttich, O :uch eds., CEEP). ). *. +. ,ess%-.ttich/ !patial Turn
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. Origins of the spatial turn

.hile on the hunt or the origins o the term spatial turn, - came across a book b! 4dward .. So7a with the title >ostmo3ern 6eographies, published in ;F<F b! Gerso, in which the 0merican geographer and social critic attempts to replace the paradigm o time with one o space. :e argues that our current en+ironment is not 7ust a 'Arodukt +on >eschichte, sondern +or allem auch der 1onstruktion menschlicher >eographien, einer sozialen 1onstruktion +on Haum und der stetigen ?m ormung geographischer $andscha ten Lproduct o histor!, but rather * be ore all else * also a construction o human geograph!@ a social construction o space and the continuous reshaping o geographic landscapesM( (0ssmann, CEEF, p. ;N). Shortl! therea ter, literar! critic /redric #ameson picks up the thread o these thoughts in a book called Aostmodernism (#ameson ;FF;). :e de ines the 'spatialization o the temporal( as a hallmark o the new paradigmI '0 certain spatial turn has o ten seemed to o er one or more producti+e wa!s o distinguishing postmodernism rom modernism proper( (#ameson, ;FF;, p. ;KN). :owe+er, other scholars suspect that the actual origin o the concept goes to a lecture held b! 9ichel /oucault in ;FQP on '2es espaces autres.( 2escribing paradigm shi t, /oucault takes the 5opernican He+olution 8 rom geocentric to heliocentric world+iew * and >alilei,s disco+er! o the in init! o the ?ni+erse as his e"ample. :e traces the histor! o the relationship between conceptions o space and the histor! o science. 4+en though toda!,s accompan!ing changes in perceptions o space * or instance with catchwords like hyperspace (#ameson, ;F<Q, p. <F) * are somewhat carelessl! linked to the technologicall! networked world (c . 2Rring O &hielmann, CEE<, p. DE), the '4ntstehung transnationaler 5ommunities durch die neuen 1ommunikationstechnologien LundM die Bedeutung des ubi)uitSren -nternets 3r das HaumbewuTtsein seiner ?ser Lemergence o transnational communities through new communication technologies and the meaning o the ubi)uitous internet or the internet user,s awareness o spaceM( (BRhme, CEEF, p. ;FC) can barel! be ignored. &hus, some traditional )uestions o the aesthetic and ictional constructions o space are again brought to the attention o literar! theor!, though the ocus has shi ted (2Rring, CEE<, p. KFQ). &he interest is now directed towards space as a ,cultural construct, and ,social product,, which bridge this approach to a new perspecti+e and purpose o cultural geograph!. &hough the 'ausdr3cklich disziplin3bergrei ende Ver=en3ung der Haumperspekti+e Le"pressi+e, area8speci ic, and comprehensi+e application o spatial perspecti+eM( is readil! emphasised (Bachmann89edick, CEEP, p. CF;)( the common theoretical background or a s!stem o space8related terminolog! (in disciplines that onl! re er to each other ostensibl!) has so ar ailed to materialise. &hat is wh! these cross8re erences o ten merel! remain metaphors, misunderstandings, and unrecognised claims. &his will continue to be the case as long as the de+elopment o single8minded, scienti ic concepts o space is not seriousl! a iliated and the long tradition o the spatial concept within the earth sciences is plainl! ignored b! literar! theor! (>enske, :ess8$3ttich, O :uch eds., CEEP@ :ess8$3ttich, 93ller, O +an Uoest eds., ;FF<). 5ongruentl! ambiguous is the talk o ,space,I a concept that has been de ined through mathematics, geometr!, phenomenolog!, sociolog!, cogniti+e science, ps!cholog!, perception theor!, and cultural, literar! and communication studies but ne+ertheless presents the spatial turn as a 7usti ication or the continued loose re erence between these discoursesI ',Space, is one o the most ob+ious o things which is mobilised as a term in a thousand di erent conte"ts, but whose potential meanings are all too rarel! e"plicated or addressed( (9asse!, ;FFF, p. CP).

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!. The spatial turn in "Cultural# Geography

.ith the scope o ph!sical geograph! broadened to include new tasks within social, cultural and anthropological geograph! as o the middle o the twentieth centur!, the willingness to complement scienti ic )uestions, i.e. ,scienti ic, according to measurable actors o the geo8sphere, with the interpretation o such actors, i.e. according to social groups and their +aluations, has been graduall! growing * along with the added readiness to locate the sub7ect itsel in both realms o academic endea+ourI namel!, the natural sciences and the humanities (c . Bobek O Schmith3sen, ;FNF, p. ;;D).C .ith this step, human action springs into +iewI 'Sub7ekti+e und sozial8kulturelle Bedeutungen werden materiellen 2ingen au erlegt, ohne dass sie zu Bestandteilen der 9aterie werden. HSumliche >egebenheiten kRnnen olglich lediglich als 9edien der 6rientierung alltSglichen :andelns +erstanden werden Lsub7ecti+e and socio8cultural meanings impose upon material things, without becoming part o the material,s content. Spatial conditions can thus be simpl! understood as media or na+igating )uotidian actionM( (.erlen, CEEN, p. D;E). 0gainst the background o such an approach o social geograph!, based on a theor! o action, as it is being presented here, problems o space appear as problems o actions o social sub7ects. &hese actions * according to 0nthon! >idden,s (;F<Q) book The Constitution of !ociety can be anal!ticall! dismantled into categories o rationale, moti+e, and intention, without the sub7ects necessaril! constituting these actions themsel+es. 0ccording to the meaning o ph!sical and material constraints, the meaning o space is implied as a medium o social orientation and di erentiation. -n con7unction with the technological and economical globalisation on one side and with the culturalisation o the social on the other, ,space, or the obser+ation and description o social practice becomes e)uall! rele+ant (spatial turn) to its in+erse in 'signi icati+e( practice in the production o signs or the understanding o the meaning o space (c . $ippuner, CEEK, p. C<). &he problem with that is 7ust how social, cultural or mental * in other words, immaterial or intangible * circumstances can be spatialisedI especiall! when the meaning o the material conditions is not inherent but ,imposed,. -n the ph!sical ob7ect, materialised chains o action can s!mbolicall! ,indicate, social meaning, but not ,ha+e, that meaning * the! are not the social meaning itsel . &his dilemma has also been characterised as the 'space trap(I the conclusi+e reductionism e"presses itsel in the necessar! conclusion o locatable material conditions superimposed on the non8locatable sub7ecti+e or rather socio8cultural components o actions. Aierre Bourdieu easibl! suggested a possible wa! out o this dilemma with his di erentiation between ph!sical, social, and 'ac)uired( spaceI
-n einer hierarchisierten >esellscha t gibt es keinen Haum, der nicht hierarchisiert wSre und nicht :ierarchien und soziale 0bstSnde zum 0usdruck brSchte. 2ies allerdings in mehr oder weniger de ormierter .eise und durch Baturalisierungse ekte maskiert, die mit der dauerha ten 4inschreibung sozialer .irklichkeiten in die nat3rliche .elt einhergehen. Lin a hierarchical societ! there is no space that does not become hierarchised and also no space that does not embod! hierarchies and social inter+als/distances. 0dmittedl!, this is masked in more or less de ormed wa!s and through naturalizing e ects that come along with perpetual enrolment o social realities in the natural worldM (Bourdieu, CEEC, p. ;QE)

&he pro7ection o the social on the ph!sical (the so8called 'ac)uired( space) leads to the ob7ecti+ation o the socialI in the end, the ph!sical ob7ecti+ated social space congeals into cogniti+e structure.

'Belebte und unbelebte Batur und >eist sind also in der geographischen Substanz +erschmolzen. 2arin liegt die innere 4inheit der >eographie begr3ndet und die &atsache, daT diese weder Batur8 noch >eisteswissenscha t allein sein kann( (Bobek O Schmith3sen ;FNF, p. ;;D). 0 reconstruction o the transition o geographical spatial concepts since the ;FCE,s here remains undone * c . or this purpose e.g. $ippuner (CEEK). ). *. +. ,ess%-.ttich/ !patial Turn
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- Bourdieu assigns (albeit metaphoricall!) the role o a mediator, who successi+el! turns the social structures into thought patterns and predispositions, to the structures o Vac)uiredV space, he himsel alls into the trap o space as he abstracts them (i.e. the ,naturalised, social structures) rom the sub7ects acting within those structures and thereb! runs the risk o concluding rom the localisation o social agents in the ph!sical space to their positions within social space. &his could, howe+er, lead directl! to a decoupling o social di erences rom social practices ( or a critical re+iew (c . $ippuner, CEEK, p. ;QP@ $ossau O $ippuner, CEEN, p. CEC ). &his is onl! to be a+oided b! a s!stematic re lection on the sign s!stem in which the social practice mani ests itsel I o te"ts and te"tures that inherit s!mbolic unctions in social s!stems. &he matter o the anal!sis would thus be the spaces, which are lingualised in the broadest sense, i.e. which are a+ailable as ,te"ts, (c . >arz O 1raimer eds., ;FFN@ :ard ed., CEEC@ :ess8$3ttich, ;FF<). -n place o the +ague term 'ac)uired ph!sical space,( an e"act di erentiation o the semantic acets o the pol!semous concept ,space, must come into beingI something reminiscent o an 0nglo8Sa"on inspired cultural and anthropological geograph!, that distinguishes between space and place (as ph!sicall! and sociall! construed or semioticall! mani ested spaceI c . 1no" O 9arston, CEE;) or in the sense o a space8structure research, which understands ,space, as a ,container,, a s!stem o site8relations o material ob7ects@ a categor! o perception, an element o action or as an arte act o societal construction processes (c . .ardenga O :Rnsch eds., ;FFK, p. KD). -n m! opinion, it is onl! then that an understanding between the representati+es o the scienti ic and the humanistic approach can be reached * with regard to their common purpose in the modernised cultural geograph!I seeing space as a material ob7ect with all its attendant ph!sical and ecological constraints and as te"t, or, as the case ma! be, discourse, and inall!, as a sign s!stem.

$ The spatial turn in Literary Theory and Te%tual &nalysis

0round the same time * post .orld .ar -- * as re lections on 'landscape and space( are introduced in geograph!, the! are also introduced in literar! theor!. D :owe+er, a comprehensi+e anal!sing arsenal in narratolog! or on a structural basis is as o !et to be established (c . /ischer, CEE<). 0t best, a igurati+e modelling o literar! notions o space, in which a 'Semantisierung sSmtlicher deskripti+en 9erkmale und Strukturen Lsemanti ication o all descripti+e tokens and structuresM( is assumed (Berghahn, ;F<F, p. D), is suggested in a phenomenological tradition. 0ccording to it, space is rendered the result o an accomplishment o construction, which combines the spatial e"perience o the reader with the semantic space in the te"tI '-n &e"ten bilden HSume als konkrete 4rscheinungs ormen den notwendigen :intergrund, +or dem /iguren agieren, gleichsam bilden sie als abstrakte Beschreibungskategorien den &rSger, der eine 0nlagerung semantischer 9ehrwerte erlaubt L-n te"ts spaces as concrete mani estations orm the necessar! background, in ront o which characters act, at the same time constituting * as abstract categories o description * the carrier that permits the accumulation o surplus +alueM( (1rah, ;FFF, p. D). -nstead o continuing to pursue the phenomenological tradition rom $essing,s -ao9oon +ia 1arl ried +on 23rckheim,s irst comprehensi+e stud! on 'li+ed space( L;<FQM, 4rnst 5assirer,s di erentiation o m!thical, aesthetic and theoretical space L;FD;M, 6tto /riedrich Bollnow,s con rontation o mathematical and e"perienced space in his classic 4ensch un3 @aum A1B5$:1B$&C, Hobert Aetsch,s segmentation o space in its ,de ined,, , ul illed/enli+ened,
3

The tradition of aesthetic reflection on space is naturally longer and can not be reprocessed here. For Lessing's early sign-theoretically motivated differentiations in Laokoon cf. exemplarily Hess-Lttich (1984). ). *. +. ,ess%-.ttich/ !patial Turn
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and ,absolute, dimensions in 0le"ander Hitter,s momentous collected edition on $andscape and space in stor!telling (-an3schaft un3 @aum in 3er )r<;hl9unst L;FPKM) through to >erhard :o mann,s irst attempt at a t!polog! o literar! space in !pace( )pic !ituation( "arrate3 @eality L;FP<M, which according to Batascha .3rzbach (CEE;, p. ;EQ), is 'heute noch rele+anteLsM Standardwerk zur narrati+en Haumdarstellung L...M mit einer dominant phSnomenologischen 0usrichtung La standard re erence on narrati+e space description e+en toda! L...M with a dominant phenomenological orientationM(, - shall rather mention a semiotic conceptualisation o literar! space, which pro+es b! ar more open to interdisciplinar! connectors than the a orementioned approachesI b! means o #uri7 9. $otman,s stud! o the s!mbolic space in literature as a result o culturall! determined sign utilisations. $otman,s model o space is primar! language based (and has hence been marginall! noticed b! literar! studies at best). :owe+er, it integrates semantic, pragmatic, -e0ens=elt, as well as historico8cultural dimensions. $iterar! te"ts as 'sekundSr modellbildende S!steme Lsecondar! model building s!stemsM( ($otman ;FPCI CC) generate spatialit! (in contrast to $essing) as a media and genre encroaching orm ( 6estalt). .ith that he surpasses the horizon o literar! studiesI or him aesthetic ob7ects * regardless i te"ts (in a proper sense), pictures, printings or buildings * as parts o a semiotic s!stem design models o possible worlds. &herein, space works as a sign s!stem through which social realit! can be constructed. /or the relation o literar! and ph!sical space this implies that 'Strukturen des Haumes eines &e"tes zum 9odell der Struktur des Haumes der .elt werden Lstructures o the space o a te"t become the structure model o world spaceM( ($otman ;FPCI D;C). .ith that the prospect o new approaches arises, or instance, on geography of literature that stri+es to link literature and cartograph! (c . >enske, :ess8$3ttich, O :uch eds., CEEP), the initial )uestion beingI '.o spielt $iteratur, und warum spielt sie dortW L.here does literature take place and wh! thereWM( (Aiatti, CEE<, p. CE). 0ccording to Aiatti, its premise readsI '4s gibt Ber3hrungspunkte zwischen iktionaler und realer >eographie. $iteraturgeographie geht da+on aus, L...M daT eine re erentielle Beziehung zwischen der inner8 und auTerliterarischen .irklichkeit besteht L&here are meeting points between ictional and real geograph!. $iterar! geograph! assumes LXM that a re erential relation between the inner8 and e"traliteral realit! e"istsM( (ibid., p. CK). &his ma! well be seminal or some literar! +enues, as the! are presentl! being proceeded with at the Swiss /ederal -nstitute o &echnolog! (or as in /ranco 9oretti,s 7tlante 3el @oman<o )uropeo 1#00%1B00), that is or certain te"ts, not remotel! or all, howe+er. 6ne ma! think, or instance, o 1a ka,s no+el The Castle, which, at best, allows or a placing eD negati5o (Stockhammer, CEEK, p. DCK). &he iron! here resides in the act that a sur+e!or o all people attempts to e"trapolate a working location, which depri+es all topographic mapping and onl! emerges in the medium o language. &here ore, the (Uurich based) approach is hardl! to be subsumed strictu sensu under the so8called topographical turn as it does not re lect the emblematic constitution o realit!, which accompanies mapping. &hus, the critical )uestion is not completel! un7usti ied, as to which literar! topograph! can be traced in te"ts * as ar as the! e"hibit actual topographicall! locatable topon!ms at all * i one is to sketch in the rele+ant place names (2Rring, CEE<, p. K<F). .hen Sigrid .eigel (CEEC) misinterprets the topographical turn as an impulse to ocus on places not as narrati+e topoi but as concrete, geographicall! identi iable places, she downright misses its essence which in+ol+es the cultural representation o spatialit!, be it in maps (Stockhammer ed., CEEK) or in literar! te"ts (BRhme ed., CEEK). Bow, i cartograph! and literature are in+ol+ed in a connection to each other it becomes apparent 'daT die 1arte zur beglaubigten -maginationsmatri" 3r HSume in &e"t8 und Bildmedien wird, au die sie sich
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beziehen Lund sich so eineM 2!namik der 1onstitution +on HSumen entwickelt Lthat the map becomes the certi ied imaginational matri" or spaces in te"t and picture media which the! re er to and that a d!namic o spatial constitution is de+elopedM( (23nne, CEEK, p. PN). &here ore, the term topography is to be concei+ed, respecti+el! di erentiated, more precisel!. -t no longer merel! in+ol+es place descriptions ( or which there was an own terminological in+entor! as earl! as in ancient rhetoric) but also the art o ,mapping,, i.e. the process o map manu acturing b! means o graphic signs, on the one hand and the (meton!mical) description o the product without re erence to its representati+e, constructed character on the other hand (9iller, ;FFK, p. D). 0s a conse)uence, according to the 0merican literar! critic :illis 9iller, the )uestion emerges as to how topographical descriptions work in poems, no+els or philosophical te"ts. 9iller detects a relation between the e"ecution o per ormati+e acts * e.g. b! naming places, landscapes, ri+ers, lakes * and the demarcation o territories and thereb! boundaries. -t is language that creates the acts hereI '&he topograph! o a place is not something there alread!, waiting to be described, constati+el!. -t is made, per ormati+el!, b! word or other signs, or e"ample, b! a song or a poem( (ibid. p. CPQ). .hile onl! the topographical turn ocuses on the representation orms o space, the topological turn mo+es the description o spatial structures, relations, positional concerns to the ore. Hoad maps, or instance, are no representation o a transport network in the topographical sense, but pro+ide in ormation on topological positional respects (c . >3nzel, CEE<, p. CCQ). &he algebrai ication o geometr! now allows or an abstraction o the graphic representation or the calculation o spatial relations. 4rnst 5assirer alread! detected this process in the case o $eibniz (5assirer, CEEQ, p. N<F)I
'2ie .iderspr3che, die sich aus Bewtons Begri des absoluten Haumes und der absoluten Ueit ergeben hatten, werden +on $eibniz dadurch beseitigt, daT er beide statt zu 2ingen, +ielmehr zu 6rdnungen macht. Haum und Ueit sind keine Substanzen, sondern +ielmehr ,reale Helationen,@ sie haben ihre wahrha te 6b7ekti+itSt in der ,.ahrheit +on Beziehungen,, nicht in irgendeiner absoluten .irklichkeit L&he contradictions which emerged rom Bewton,s notion o the absolute space and the absolute time are eradicated b! $eibniz in that he constitutes the two rather as s!stems than as things. &ime and space are not merel! substances but rather ,real relations,. &he! ha+e their +eracious ob7ecti+it! in the ,truth o relations, not in an! absolute truthM.(

:ere, the circle to $otman, who au fon3 designed the irst literar! topolog!, is closed. :e was interested in how literar! (cultural) applications o spatial models were implemented or non8spatial contentsI '2ie Sprache der rSumlichen Helationen ist eines der grundlegenden 9ittel zur 2eutung der .irklichkeit L&he language o spatial relations is one o the undamental means or interpreting realit!M( ($otman, ;FPC, p. D;D). -t contains the e"pressions or which 'rSumlich konkrete Sach+erhalte 3ber semiotische 6perationen als &rSger 3r nicht8 rSumliche Sach+erhalte ungieren Lspatial concrete circumstances act as carriers or non8 spatial circumstances +ia semiotic operationsM( (1rah ;FFF, p. N). -t is rom $otman,s literar! topolog! that the Aassau based literar! scholar :ans 1rah deri+es his classi ication scheme o a semiotics o space and di erentiates the geographical, topological, percepti+e, narrati+e and conceptional aspect in respect o its semanti ication and unctionalisation. &he metaphorical implementation o signs or spaces thereb! ser+es to depict non8spatial circumstances b! means o rhetorical strategies (c . ibid. p. N). &he di erent characteristics o the spatial turn or its conse)uences in literar! theor! ha+e there ore led to entirel! di erent perspecti+esI (i) the phenomenological perspecti+e traces the modalities o spatial relation, which are mani ested in sub7ecti+e attitudes o narrator and characters, and deduces space as product o human perception, which allows or conclusions concerning respecti+e e ecti+e social standards and cultural +alues@ (ii) the cartographical perspecti+e proceeds rom nameable relations o re erence between inner8 and outer8 literar! realit! and in that mis7udges the constructional character o space in literature@
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(iii) the topographical perspecti+e percei+es literar! space as imaginar! geograph!, which * similar to cultural geograph! * re ers to the constituti+e character o social practice and there ore detects the meaning o spatial relations or the distribution o knowledge, power, pre7udices, etc.@ (i+) the topological perspecti+e, on the other hand, bridges to the semiotic (and e+en rhetoric) tradition b! e"posing the structure o ,)uasi8spatial relations, and their meaning or literature and culture. -n other words, b! e"posing space as a sign s!stem illed with meaning upon which social realit! is constituted. -n light o a globalised world, in which cultures are merged, borders changed or abolished, communication paths interlinked, tra ic routes condensed, literar! theor! aces the challenge o ha+ing to deal with concepts o space, which ha+e been de+eloped outside its own tradition, i it stri+es to interpret spatial aspects o its sub7ect matter appropriatel!. 5urrent cultural geographical concepts o space, or one, in+ite to rede ine, or instance, the relationships o power, identit!, territorialit! in the anal!sis o colonial and postcolonial literature. :owe+er, one must be ac)uainted with the rele+ant conceptions in order to e+ade interdisciplinar! misunderstandings.

' Intersections (etween concepts of space: Cultural Geography vs. Te%tual &nalysis as loci of enunciation
-n the balance o tension between globalisation and regionalisation, +irtual dissolution o boundaries and sub8cultural distinction and e"clusion, homogenisation o li est!les and indi+idualisation o social practices new scopes arise or literature as '9edium kultureller Selbstauslegung La medium o cultural sel 8interpretationM(I '2ie Ybertragung sozialwissenscha tlicher und soziokultureller 9odelle au den Haum in der $iteratur heiTt da+on auszugehen, daT der Haum in Homanen ebenso mit seinen sozialen 5odierungen unktioniert wie der ph!sische Haum der HealitSt Lthe trans erence o socio8cultural models on space in literature implies that space in no+els with its social codi ications unctions in the same wa! as ph!sical space does in realit!M( (1rug, CEEN, p. ;D). 4+en i the transdisciplinar! notion o 'culture as te"t(, which is strongl! based on 5li ord >eertz, seems somewhat stressed b! now, it still inspires interdisciplinar! cooperation as in the construction o notions o space in geograph! and in the 'imaginati+e geograph!( o literar! iction or in the mediation o cultural world +iews b! 'secondar! model shaping s!stems( o aesthetic sign comple"es in the sense o $otman, whose notion o the literar! te"t as '/orm der kulturellen Selbstwahrnehmung und Selbstthematisierung La orm o cultural sel 8perception and sel 8thematisationM( (B3nning O Sommer, CEEN, p. CE) pro+es to still be rele+ant toda! (c . Bachmann89edick, CEEN, p. ;K;). So, the spatial turn in social geograph! allows to conceptualise )uestions o social coding, o position and identit!, o territorialisation and border crossing, in the medium o literature and to render them ertile or te"tual anal!sis (c . .3rzbach, CEE;, pp. ;EP ). .hile literar! theor! was able to tie on established philosophical, s!mbol8theoretical respecti+el! semiotic traditions (as or instance established b! 4rnst 5assirer), the e"tension o physical geography b! the ield o cultural geography re)uired a radical 'new thinking( and the sign8theoreticall! critical re lection o cartographic practise. 6nl! b! the 'culturalisation o spaces( the s!mbolic meaning and the linguistic8communicati+e pro3uction o spaces are mo+ed into ocus. 5on+ersel!, howe+er, there,s a warning against a 'spaci ication o culture(, when it risks changing 'Arodukte sozialer und kultureller >egebenheiten in scheinbar nat3rliche ,geographische >egebenheiten, L...MI sie also zu +erdinglichen und letztlich zu naturalisieren Lproducts o social and cultural realities into seemingl! natural ,geographic realities,, i3 est ob7ecti !ing and, in e ect, naturalising themM( ($ossau, CEEF, p. DC).
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&he pro7ection o ictionalised spaces on geographicall! real spaces (Z la Aiatti CEE<) ma! be suitable or a 'literatouristical illustration( (and ha+e a practical +alue or hikes ,on the tracks, o literar! authors and/or their oeu+re). :owe+er, it con irms the declaimed concern on parts o the culture geographical side that a thus understood spatial turn could well lead back to a long since bettered notion o ,geo8space,. &he critical re lection o a seemingl! ,ob7ecti+e, depiction o the ,geo8space, in mapping practice corresponds in contrast to a literar! topography, which similar to cultural geograph! s!stematicall! accommodates the social and cultural implications, which ha+e entered into the cartographic modelling, i.e. concei+es o literature 'als mediale Ara"is, LdieM in bestimmter .eise an der 1onstitution kultureller HSume 3berhaupt LmitwirktM Las a medial practise which contributes to the constitution o cultural spaces in a speci ic wa!M( (c . 23nne CEEK, p. PD). .ith e+en more consistenc!, the topological approach in the tradition o the &artuan school ollows the programme o interpreting, ,be!ond, traditional borders o disciplines, as it were, geo8scienti ic mapping and literar! iction as models o realit! o the respecti+e cultures with their inherent signi icati+e relations. -n the light o the e+er increasing comple"it! o a multidimensionall! linked8up world, the $otman impulses gain an une"pected renewed topicalit! or the dialogue between natural and cultural sciences, as, in all respect to the ob+ious structural, modal, unctional di erence )ualities between geo8scienti ic and literar! perception o the ,real world,, it remains e)uall! undisputed that 'alles, was im &e"t nicht ausdr3cklich als +erschieden +on der wirklichen .elt erwShnt oder beschrieben wird, muT als 3bereinstimmend mit den >esetzen und Bedingungen der wirklichen .elt +erstanden werden Le+er!thing not e"plicitl! mentioned or described as di erent rom the real world, must be understood as concordant with the laws and conditions o the real worldM( (4co, ;FFN, p. ;;C).

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