Realms of Illusion and Oblivion: Space, Place, and Allegory in Lu Xun’s “Diary of a Madman”

International Journal of Geographical and Spatial Studies

JGSS Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp. 19-30.

Print ISSN: 3105-1294; Online ISSN: 3105-1308

Journal homepage: https://www.gssjournal.com

DOI：https://doi.org/10.64058/JGSS.26.1.03

Realms of Illusion and Oblivion: Space, Place, and Allegory in Lu Xun’s “Diary of a Madman”

Robert T. Tally Jr.

Abstract: Allegory is inherently spatial, for the establishment of an “other” meaning for a given text will involve matters of place and displacement, dislocation, and dispersal, as well as hierarchies of meaning that may be imagined in architectural or topographical terms. In this article, Robert T. Tally Jr. discusses the significance of allegory for spatial literary studies, broadly speaking. Drawing on the work of Fredric Jameson, Tally examines the ways that literary texts serve as cognitive maps that not only figuratively chart the social spaces represented, but also offer inherently spatial allegories by which to make sense of their world. The spaces in question are not necessarily geographical, but are often established as relations (e.g., interior-exterior, public-private, high-low, here-there, and so on). Tally will look at Lu Xun’s 1918 short story “Diary of a Madman,” as well as Jameson’s discussion of it, in order to illustrate these connections.

Keywords: space; allegory; place; mapping; narrative

Author Biography: Robert T. Tally Jr. is Distinguished University Professor of English and an Honorary Professor of International Studies at Texas State University. His works include Geocritical Cosmopolitanism: Space, Literature, and the Sense of the Global (2026), The Fiction of Dread: Dystopia, Monstrosity, and Apocalypse (2024), The Critical Situation: Vexed Perspectives in Postmodern Literary Studies (2023), Topophrenia: Place, Narrative, and the Spatial Imagination (2019), Fredric Jameson: The Project of Dialectic Criticism (2014), Spatiality (2013), among others. He is also the editor of the Geocriticism and Spatial Literary Studies book series and the honorary editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Geographical and Spatial Studies (JGSS). Email: robert.tally@txstate.edu

标题：幻觉之境与遗忘之境：鲁迅《狂人日记》中的空间、地方与寓言

摘要：寓言本质上具有空间属性。特定文本衍生出“他义”的过程，必然牵涉地方、移位、错位与流散等问题，以及可借助建筑或地形术语加以想象的意义层级结构。在本文中，罗伯特·塔利从宏观层面探讨寓言之于空间文学研究的价值意蕴。基于弗雷德里克·詹姆逊的研究，作者考察了文学文本如何作为认知地图发挥作用：它们不仅象征性地呈现社会空间，更在本质上提供了一种空间性寓言，帮助人们理解自身所处的世界。此类空间并不局限于真实的地理空间，而常常被构建为各种二元关系，如内与外、公共与私人、高与低、此处与彼处等。文章以鲁迅1918年的短篇小说《狂人日记》及詹姆逊对该作品的评述切入，阐明寓言与文学空间研究之间的内在关联。

关键词：空间；寓言；地方；绘图；叙事

作者简介：罗伯特·塔利，得克萨斯州立大学英语系杰出教授、国际研究中心荣誉教授。主要著作包括：《地理批评式世界主义：空间、文学与全球感》（2026）、《虚构的畏惧：敌托邦、怪物与启示录》（2024）、《批判的情境：后现代文学研究的多元视角》（2023）、《处所意识：地方、叙事与空间想象》（2019）、《弗雷德里克·詹姆逊：辩证批判工程》（2014）、《空间性》（2013）等。兼任“地理批评与文学空间研究”系列丛书主编、《国际地理与空间研究学刊》荣誉主编。电邮为robert.tally@txstate.edu。