『我城』(西西)의 공간 중심적 홍콩 상상과 방식

Abstract

Neither specific protagonists nor a penetrating narratives are examined in My City, a novel by Xi Xi. There are frequent shifts of narrators and main characters. In some parts of the novel, the described object or the scene itself matters more than characters or events. In other words, the common citizen and their everyday lives, along with various details of the city are the main subject of this novel. Therefore, the city itself is a protagonist and the city itself becomes the narrative. My City utilizes three techniques: ‘place-making of space’ that converts a specific space into a meaningful place; ‘similar place-making of space’ which imprints a characteristic spatial situation of Hong Kong as a place; and ‘signification of life’ that marks distinctive objects or life details of Hong Kong. Moreover,the relevant independent or multi-layered scenes and images are created through trans-genre, such as introduction of illustrations or application of cinematic montage methods. In My City, spatiality tends to be emphasized while temporality is diminished. Most of all, relatively less amount of descriptions on temporality are found in the novel. The narratives by characters are spread out in nonlinear fashion, and temporality is never the main theme even if an event unfolds itself. Furthermore, themes regarding past or history, especially the relationship between Hong Kong and China or the relationship between Hong Kong and the Great Britain are avoided while covering most of the other aspects of Hong Kong. There are important factors to the creation of synergy effects among objects, issues, places, details of lives or respective images,rather than having each elements fragmented. First, such elements are related to each other through particular atmosphere, emotion or sense. Secondly and more importantly, the novel commands “Chinese garden structure” or “movement within Chinese garden” in methodological or structural sense. Hereby, Chinese garden is a space fragmented into countless numbers of smaller spaces. The theme and the content of My City are very absorbing, and the structures and the techniques are well balanced. The warm-hearted personality of characters and childlike expressions with the effect of defamiliarization offer sense of closeness. Also,the varying images resulting from the trans-genre from cinema or paintings are effectively mobilized.