Cognitive Mapping of Hyperspace: An Appraisal of Postmodern Spatial Turn
Abstract
This paper is an attempt to grapple with Fredric Jameson’s ‘spatial turn’ as one of the most influential reappraisals of space in the postmodern age. Jameson believes that the ‘postmodern hyperspace’ has led to a politically crippling inability of the individual to locate him/herself in the world. He made an important, albeit controversial, link between space, mapping, and politics. His cognitive mapping highlights the continuous difficulties that face the theorist employing mapping strategies in order to represent spaces; hence, his evocation of ‘postmodern hyperspace’ demonstrates that his examination of space is a means to document the political problems he identifies in the organization of society in the late twentieth century. Jameson’s reappraisal of space is crucial in literary critical practice, especially that relating to postmodern fiction. His insistence on the necessity of a new form of cognitive mapping is explored in order to establish exactly what such a strategy might involve, while the debate surrounding this concept is then discussed, emphasizing the complexity and continuing ambiguity of such strategies. Jameson’s attempts to apply his theories in aesthetic analysis are then discussed in order to evaluate both the potential and the pitfalls of mapping strategies.
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