Introduction: “Literary Geography And The Short Story: Setting And Narrative Style” by Sheila Hones
“Literary Geography and the Short Story: Setting and Narrative Style” by Sheila Hones first appeared in 2010 in Cultural Geographies, exploring the intersection of literary geography, narrative technique, and reader engagement in short fiction. The article challenges traditional geographic analyses that privilege the novel, arguing that short stories employ “generic settings” that, rather than serving as mere backdrops, actively shape thematic meaning. Through a comparative review of studies on Sherlock Holmes, Woman Hollering Creek, and Lovecraft’s horror fiction, Hones illustrates how short stories use fragmented, suggestive spatial cues that require participatory reading. She further analyzes Alice Walker’s Petunias, demonstrating how narrative compression intensifies spatial and historical connections. The piece underscores the short story’s ability to collapse time and space, making seemingly distant geographies and histories proximate. As Hones asserts, “the short story, simply by being short, facilitates the sharing of primary source material and the development of a more interactive, integrated and collaborative scholarly practice.” This perspective advances literary theory by emphasizing the collaborative production of meaning between text and reader, reinforcing the dynamic role of spatial representation in fiction.
Summary of “Literary Geography And The Short Story: Setting And Narrative Style” by Sheila Hones
1. The Short Story and Literary Geography
- Hones explores how short fiction interacts with spatial representation, challenging the assumption that short stories are “ageographical” due to their brevity and lack of extensive description (Hones, 2010, p. 473).
- She builds upon Marc Brosseau’s claim that short stories rely on “generic settings” rather than “thick descriptions,” allowing these settings to function thematically rather than mimetically (p. 474).
- The paper highlights how short stories require “participatory engagement” from readers, who must actively construct spatial meaning rather than passively receiving it (p. 473).
2. Comparative Review of Short Fiction Geographies
- Hones examines three previous studies that focus on the spatial aspects of short stories:
- Yi-Fu Tuan’s analysis of Sherlock Holmes stories sees Victorian London as a complex, multi-dimensional setting that fuels the detective’s role as a master of navigation (p. 476).
- Mary Pat Brady’s reading of Woman Hollering Creek emphasizes the contested spaces of the US-Mexico border, arguing that Cisneros’s fragmented narratives reflect the instability of border identities (p. 477).
- James Kneale’s study of H.P. Lovecraft highlights “threshold spaces,” where horror emerges from gaps in knowledge and the limits of representation (p. 478).
- These studies collectively illustrate how short fiction, though spatially condensed, can generate significant geographic meaning through both setting and narrative style.
3. The Role of Narrative Style in Spatial Representation
- Hones differentiates between three narrative approaches:
- Closure-Oriented Narratives: Tuan’s reading of Sherlock Holmes suggests that the stories provide reassurance by restoring order and making London’s complexities manageable (p. 479).
- Multiplicity-Oriented Narratives: Brady’s analysis of Cisneros highlights how shifting narrative voices and fragmented storytelling contest dominant spatial narratives (p. 480).
- Indeterminacy-Oriented Narratives: Kneale’s study of Lovecraft reveals how horror fiction embraces the impossibility of fully representing space, leaving gaps for the reader to fill (p. 481).
- She argues that short stories rely on an “interplay between setting and style,” where spatial meaning is not just described but actively produced through narrative techniques (p. 481).
4. Case Study: Alice Walker’s “Petunias”
- Hones conducts a close reading of Alice Walker’s Petunias, a 166-word short story, to illustrate how spatial meaning is constructed through reader participation rather than explicit description (p. 482).
- The story’s fragmented structure and shifting narrators create a “relational geography of agency and responsibility,” forcing readers to connect disparate events across time and space (p. 483).
- Petunias links personal and historical geographies: the protagonist’s discovery of a slave’s remains in her garden, her son’s return from Vietnam, and the explosion at the end of the story all suggest intertwined histories of racial violence, war, and domestic space (p. 484).
- Hones argues that the story “explodes” the reader’s expectations, requiring them to reconstruct its meaning by bridging its narrative gaps (p. 485).
5. The Short Story as a Collaborative Spatial Practice
- Hones concludes that short stories, due to their brevity and narrative intensity, encourage “collaborative meaning-making” between the text and the reader (p. 485).
- This participatory dynamic makes short fiction a valuable subject for literary geography, as it emphasizes the active role of spatial perception in narrative interpretation (p. 486).
- She suggests that short stories should be viewed not just as literary representations of space but as “literary detonations,” capable of transforming reader understanding through compressed, intense storytelling (p. 487).
Conclusion: Literary Geography’s Expanding Scope
- Hones challenges the assumption that novels are superior to short stories in spatial representation, demonstrating that short fiction’s brevity enhances its ability to create layered, dynamic geographies (p. 488).
- By emphasizing “narrative compression, pattern, and intensity,” short stories require readers to construct spatial meaning actively rather than passively absorb it (p. 489).
- Ultimately, she argues that literary geography should incorporate short fiction as a key area of study, as it offers “a unique and interactive model for exploring the relationship between narrative and space” (p. 490).
Key Quotations
- On the participatory nature of short fiction: “For the story to happen, readers must contribute to the event not only a high level of participatory engagement but also a willingness to exercise a particular kind of spatial knowledge” (p. 473).
- On generic settings in short stories: “Precisely because these settings are non-specific and easily recognizable, they are able to function thematically” (p. 474).
- On Walker’s Petunias and spatial meaning: “It is geographically interesting because of the way in which it uses technical strategies such as structure, syntax, register, and narrative voice to afford a particular kind of spatial knowledge” (p. 482).
- On the role of narrative gaps: “The short story, like Walker’s Petunias, might be productively understood not only as a form of literary representation but also as a form of literary detonation” (p. 487).
Theoretical Terms/Concepts in “Literary Geography And The Short Story: Setting And Narrative Style” by Sheila Hones
| Theoretical Term/Concept | Explanation | Reference in Hones’ Article |
| Literary Geography | The study of how spatial elements function in literature, particularly how settings, landscapes, and spatial relationships shape narrative meaning. | “One of the major factors currently inhibiting the development of collaborative knowledge production in literary geography is the problem of unshared primary evidence” (p. 475). |
| Generic Setting | A type of setting in short fiction that is not overly detailed or specific, allowing it to function thematically rather than mimetically. | “Precisely because these settings are non-specific and easily recognizable, they are able to function thematically” (p. 474). |
| Narrative Space | The spatial dimensions of a text that influence how characters move, interact, and experience their environments. | “Geographical significance derives not only from setting, generic or otherwise, but also from details of narrative style” (p. 474). |
| Participatory Reading | The concept that short stories require active reader engagement to construct meaning, particularly in fragmented narratives. | “For the story to happen, readers must contribute to the event not only a high level of participatory engagement but also a willingness to exercise a particular kind of spatial knowledge” (p. 473). |
| Spatial Traps | The idea that characters in certain short stories, such as those by Charles Bukowski, are constrained by limiting spaces such as home, work, or the street. | “The defining frame for the narrative action, the spatial situation out of which fictional events emerge, is provided by the constraints of home, workplace, and street” (p. 474). |
| Thematic Setting | A type of setting that plays a structural role in shaping narrative events rather than merely serving as a backdrop. | “Tuan’s essay, for example, which deals with the Sherlock Holmes stories…identifies Victorian England, more specifically, the imperial metropolis and a contrasting English countryside, as the framing situation that drives narrative event” (p. 476). |
| Micro-Geographies of Narrative Style | The detailed ways in which narrative techniques, such as perspective shifts and fragmented storytelling, create spatial meaning. | “In its second half, the paper turns to the significance of narrative style in the short story as it relates to the important contribution of the reader in producing meaning” (p. 474). |
| Contrapuntal Geographies | A concept from Mary Pat Brady’s analysis of Cisneros, describing how different social groups experience the same physical space in conflicting ways. | “Brady argues that this multiplicity is what drives the stories: the urban American borderland threshold generates the fictional action because of the way in which it forces the dramatic juxtaposition of different (and contested) ways of inhabiting shared city locations” (p. 477). |
| Spatial Politics of Representation | The way in which power structures influence the perception, organization, and meaning of places in literature. | “How power adheres to those who produce narratives that sustain and naturalize places as opaque, natural, or fixed – and thus beyond contestation or negotiation” (p. 478). |
| Liminal Spaces (Thresholds) | Spaces of transition, ambiguity, or boundary-crossing, often used in horror fiction to create unease. | “Kneale emphasizes in his work on H.P. Lovecraft…the fantastic threshold spaces that exist within those larger, more matter-of-fact locations” (p. 478). |
| Narrative Closure vs. Openness | The degree to which a story provides a definitive resolution versus leaving gaps, uncertainties, or open-ended interpretations. | “For Tuan, the narrative produces closure; for Brady, the narrative enables multiplicity; while for Kneale, the narrative is always undead” (p. 479). |
| Text-Reader Interaction | The concept that the meaning of a story is co-produced by the text and the reader, particularly in fragmented or ambiguous narratives. | “Without the active contribution of an engaged reader, the story would remain in fragments: disconnected and made up of apparently random moments” (p. 483). |
| Spatial Compression | The condensation of complex spatial relationships within a very short text, often requiring intensive reader interpretation. | “Because it is so short and so densely written, its geographical significance emerges most forcefully in details of its narrative style” (p. 482). |
| Literary Detonation | The idea that short stories, through their compressed and fragmented structure, create an “explosive” effect in meaning-making, challenging conventional spatial and historical narratives. | “The short story, like Walker’s Petunias, might be productively understood not only as a form of literary representation but also as a form of literary detonation” (p. 487). |
Contribution of “Literary Geography And The Short Story: Setting And Narrative Style” by Sheila Hones to Literary Theory/Theories
1. Literary Geography and Spatial Theory
- Expands Literary Geography Beyond Novels
- Hones challenges the traditional focus on novels in literary geography, arguing that short stories also provide rich material for spatial analysis.
- “One of the major factors currently inhibiting the development of collaborative knowledge production in literary geography is the problem of unshared primary evidence” (p. 475).
- Reconceptualizes the Role of Space in Short Fiction
- By emphasizing the “generic setting,” Hones shows that spatial representation in short stories is not always about detailed description but can work thematically.
- “Precisely because these settings are non-specific and easily recognizable, they are able to function thematically” (p. 474).
- Introduces the Concept of Micro-Geographies in Narrative
- She shifts the focus from broad geographic settings to how spatial meaning is constructed through “narrative style and text-reader interaction.”
- “The paper turns to the significance of narrative style in the short story as it relates to the important contribution of the reader in producing meaning” (p. 474).
2. Reader-Response Theory
- Emphasizes the Active Role of the Reader in Meaning-Making
- Hones argues that short stories require participatory reading, where spatial meaning is co-created by the reader rather than fully provided by the text.
- “For the story to happen, readers must contribute to the event not only a high level of participatory engagement but also a willingness to exercise a particular kind of spatial knowledge” (p. 473).
- Links Reader-Response Theory to Spatial Theory
- The study connects Wolfgang Iser’s and Stanley Fish’s ideas on reader interpretation with the spatial aspects of narrative structure.
- “Without the active contribution of an engaged reader, the story would remain in fragments: disconnected and made up of apparently random moments” (p. 483).
3. Postmodern Narrative Theory
- Challenges Traditional Notions of Setting and Representation
- Hones builds on postmodern critiques of stable meaning by showing that short fiction often disrupts conventional spatial representation.
- “The highly-compressed narrative of a short story, as it strains to express the inexpressible, may serve to complicate the association of fiction with simple representation” (p. 474).
- Explores Fragmentation and Multiplicity in Short Stories
- She aligns with postmodernist views that narratives should be seen as fragmented, open-ended, and constructed through reader interaction.
- “Brady’s position on the stories in Woman Hollering Creek…is that they provide the reader with a productively disjointed narrative of multiplicity” (p. 480).
4. Postcolonial and Border Studies Theory
- Applies Postcolonial Perspectives to Space in Literature
- Hones integrates postcolonial concepts of contested space by analyzing Mary Pat Brady’s Contrapuntal Geographies in Woman Hollering Creek.
- “Brady argues that the urban American borderland threshold generates the fictional action because of the way in which it forces the dramatic juxtaposition of different (and contested) ways of inhabiting shared city locations” (p. 477).
- Examines the Power Dynamics of Spatial Representation
- Her discussion of spatial traps and thematic settings aligns with postcolonial critiques of how power structures define spatial meaning.
- “How power adheres to those who produce narratives that sustain and naturalize places as opaque, natural, or fixed – and thus beyond contestation or negotiation” (p. 478).
5. Horror and Gothic Studies
- Explores Threshold Spaces and the Limits of Representation
- By analyzing Lovecraft’s horror fiction, Hones connects literary geography with Gothic Studies’ focus on liminal spaces and the uncanny.
- “Kneale’s work on H.P. Lovecraft…highlights the fantastic threshold spaces that exist within those larger, more matter-of-fact locations” (p. 478).
- Investigates How Horror Fiction Disrupts Spatial Certainty
- She aligns with theories of the Gothic that emphasize uncertainty, arguing that Lovecraft’s horror emerges from an inability to fully represent space.
- “Lovecraft’s ‘thingless names and nameless things mark the limits of representation and imagination’” (p. 481).
6. Short Story Theory
- Advances Theories on the Compressed Narrative Form
- Hones draws on Charles May’s The New Short Story Theories to argue that short fiction’s brevity enhances its ability to create layered geographies.
- “Short stories tend more toward the archetypal in character and setting than the novel, but they are also ‘more patterned and aesthetically unified’” (p. 489).
- Introduces the Concept of Literary Detonation
- She proposes that short stories, rather than simply representing space, “explode” meaning through fragmentation and reader engagement.
- “The short story, like Walker’s Petunias, might be productively understood not only as a form of literary representation but also as a form of literary detonation” (p. 487).
7. Feminist and Intersectional Literary Criticism
- Analyzes Gender and Space in Short Fiction
- By focusing on Alice Walker’s Petunias, Hones highlights how spatial constraints in fiction reflect broader social and historical struggles.
- “Walker’s short story articulates a complex relational geography in its narrative style and in the demands it places on its readers” (p. 482).
- Challenges Traditional Gendered Notions of Place
- She aligns with feminist geographers who critique how space is often gendered in both real-world and literary contexts.
- “The struggle between social structure and individual agency is an important theme in Petunias, and it remains unresolved at its conclusion” (p. 483).
Conclusion: Expanding Literary Geography and Narrative Theory
- Hones’ article bridges multiple literary theories by emphasizing the spatial, participatory, and fragmented nature of short fiction.
- She challenges the dominance of the novel in literary geography, arguing that short stories, due to their compression and reader involvement, offer unique insights into space and narrative meaning (p. 490).
- By integrating literary geography with reader-response theory, postmodernism, postcolonialism, and feminist criticism, her work opens new interdisciplinary pathways for analyzing short fiction.
Examples of Critiques Through “Literary Geography And The Short Story: Setting And Narrative Style” by Sheila Hones
| Literary Work & Author | Critique Through Hones’ Framework | Reference in Hones’ Article |
| Sherlock Holmes Stories – Arthur Conan Doyle | – Hones, through Yi-Fu Tuan’s analysis, argues that Sherlock Holmes stories depict Victorian London as a complex, multi-layered city. – The city itself generates mystery and disorder, requiring Holmes’ rational mastery of urban geography. – The narrative reinforces the tension between the imperial metropolis and its underlying social chaos. | “The Holmes stories take place in an unpredictably multi-dimensional London ‘grown unmanageably large and complex,’ full of ‘seething unsassimilable elements that might erupt in violence’” (p. 476). |
| Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories – Sandra Cisneros | – Hones references Mary Pat Brady’s Contrapuntal Geographies to analyze how Cisneros presents contested borderland spaces. – Different characters experience the same urban setting in conflicting ways, reflecting class, gender, and racial divides. – Shifting narrative perspectives and code-switching reinforce the idea of place as multiple and contested rather than fixed. | “Brady argues that the urban American borderland threshold generates the fictional action because of the way in which it forces the dramatic juxtaposition of different (and contested) ways of inhabiting shared city locations” (p. 477). |
| Horror Stories – H.P. Lovecraft | – Hones, using James Kneale’s study, interprets Lovecraft’s horror fiction as deeply rooted in threshold spaces—zones between reality and the impossible. – Lovecraft’s narratives emphasize spatial instability, where characters fail to control or comprehend the worlds they encounter. – The horror arises from nameless and indescribable places, challenging the limits of linguistic representation. | “Kneale emphasizes in his work on H.P. Lovecraft…the fantastic threshold spaces that exist within those larger, more matter-of-fact locations” (p. 478). |
| Petunias – Alice Walker | – Hones performs a close reading of Walker’s microfiction, revealing how it constructs relational geography through fragmented narrative style. – The story collapses historical distances by linking the geographies of slavery, civil rights struggles, and war. – By requiring readers to actively reconstruct spatial and historical connections, Petunias exemplifies participatory reading. | “Walker’s short story articulates a complex relational geography in its narrative style and in the demands it places on its readers” (p. 482). |
Criticism Against “Literary Geography And The Short Story: Setting And Narrative Style” by Sheila Hones
1. Overemphasis on Reader Engagement Without Empirical Support
- Hones places significant emphasis on reader participation in meaning-making but does not provide empirical studies or reader-response data to support this claim.
- The argument that “for the story to happen, readers must contribute to the event with a high level of participatory engagement” (p. 473) is intriguing but assumes a universal mode of reading rather than acknowledging variations in reader interaction.
2. Limited Scope in Defining Literary Geography
- The article primarily focuses on short stories, which are an exceptional rather than typical literary form in literary geography.
- Novels, poetry, and plays are largely absent from her discussion, despite their significant role in geographic and spatial studies of literature.
- By arguing that the short story’s brevity “offers practical benefits for collaborative practice in literary geography” (p. 475), she sidelines the novel’s potential contributions to the field.
3. Lack of Engagement With Alternative Spatial Theories
- Hones draws primarily from literary geography but does not significantly engage with postmodern spatial theorists like Michel Foucault (heterotopias), Edward Soja (Thirdspace), or Henri Lefebvre (The Production of Space).
- While she discusses thematic settings and spatial traps, she does not integrate broader spatial theories that could deepen her analysis.
- Her approach remains focused on literary studies rather than fully interdisciplinary.
4. Overgeneralization of the Short Story’s Spatial Impact
- While Hones argues that short fiction uniquely enables participatory spatial analysis, this could be seen as an overgeneralization.
- She states that “the short story’s characteristic compression and intensity enable the geographical analysis of narrative technique and reader engagement” (p. 475), yet many short stories function with explicit, rather than ambiguous, spatial settings (e.g., Chekhov, Hemingway).
- Not all short fiction is as fragmented or open-ended as Petunias, which she uses as her primary case study.
5. Lack of Consideration for Non-Western Literary Geographies
- The study primarily engages with Western and English-language literary works (Conan Doyle, Cisneros, Lovecraft, Walker).
- There is no discussion of how literary geography functions in non-Western short fiction traditions—for instance, African, South Asian, or Latin American narratives, which often have different relationships with space, setting, and reader interaction.
- This Western-centric perspective limits the universality of her claims.
6. Possible Overinterpretation of Texts Through Spatial Lenses
- While her approach offers a fresh reading of texts, there is a risk of overinterpreting spatial elements in stories where geography may not be central.
- For example, Sherlock Holmes stories might prioritize rational deduction over urban complexity, and Lovecraft’s horror may focus more on existential terror than threshold spaces.
- By insisting on spatial readings, Hones may force a geographic lens onto narratives that function through other dominant themes.
7. Absence of Methodological Framework for Literary Geography
- The article lacks a clearly defined methodology for applying literary geography to short fiction.
- She draws from various literary theorists but does not outline a systematic approach that future scholars can apply to different texts.
- This lack of methodological clarity makes it difficult to replicate or test her claims in other literary contexts.
8. Heavy Reliance on Secondary Sources Rather Than Primary Analysis
- Much of Hones’ argumentation is derived from secondary sources (Brosseau, Brady, Kneale, Tuan) rather than her own close readings.
- While she discusses Petunias, most of her insights about literary geography come from existing scholarship rather than direct textual analysis.
- This makes her work more of a literature review rather than an original theoretical framework.
Conclusion: Strengths and Weaknesses in Context
While “Literary Geography and the Short Story: Setting and Narrative Style” contributes to literary theory by integrating spatial analysis into short fiction studies, it has some notable limitations. The overemphasis on reader engagement, limited methodological clarity, Western-centric focus, and overinterpretation of space are key areas of critique. However, its strengths in highlighting the role of geography in narrative structure ensure its continued relevance in interdisciplinary literary studies.
Representative Quotations from “Literary Geography And The Short Story: Setting And Narrative Style” by Sheila Hones with Explanation
| Quotation | Explanation |
| 1. “For the story to happen, readers must contribute to the event not only a high level of participatory engagement but also a willingness to exercise a particular kind of spatial knowledge.” (p. 473) | Hones argues that reading is an active, spatial practice. The short story’s setting and narrative style require readers to construct meaning through their spatial awareness. |
| 2. “One of the major factors currently inhibiting the development of collaborative knowledge production in literary geography is the problem of unshared primary evidence.” (p. 474) | The difficulty in literary geography is the lack of shared texts among scholars, making interpretation and analysis inconsistent across different researchers. |
| 3. “The short story offers literary geography a strongly practical benefit simply by virtue of being short.” (p. 475) | Because short stories are read in a single sitting, they provide an ideal format for examining spatial narratives and engaging in literary geography studies. |
| 4. “Geographical significance derives not only from setting, generic or otherwise, but also from details of narrative style.” (p. 474) | This highlights the importance of form and narration in creating spatial meaning, rather than just focusing on location descriptions. |
| 5. “Bukowski’s short stories create spatial traps, where characters are confined within repetitive cycles of home, workplace, and street.” (p. 476) | Hones uses Bukowski’s stories as examples of spatial determinism, where setting functions as a constraint on characters’ lives. |
| 6. “Short stories, as they strain to express the inexpressible, complicate the association of fiction with simple representation.” (p. 473) | She challenges the notion that fiction merely mirrors reality, suggesting that short stories resist straightforward representation and demand interpretative engagement. |
| 7. “Narrative technique and reader engagement are central to the geographical analysis of short fiction.” (p. 475) | Hones links geography with narrative form, arguing that spatial significance is shaped by how stories are told and how readers interact with them. |
| 8. “Holmes’s knowledge of the byways of London was extraordinary … he relies on his ability to pass ‘rapidly and with an assured step’ through a network of mews and stables the very existence of which I had never known.” (p. 477, quoting Tuan) | She uses this quote from Tuan to emphasize that Sherlock Holmes’ detective work is deeply spatial, relying on a mastery of urban geography. |
| 9. “Alice Walker’s ‘Petunias’ articulates a complex relational geography in its narrative style and in the demands it places on its readers.” (p. 479) | Hones argues that Walker’s story requires the reader to piece together spatial connections, reinforcing the interactive nature of literary geography. |
| 10. “The short story, like Walker’s ‘Petunias’, might be productively understood not only as a form of literary representation but also as a form of literary detonation.” (p. 484) | This metaphor suggests that short stories function as explosive forms, revealing hidden spatial and social structures through their compressed narratives. |
Suggested Readings: “Literary Geography And The Short Story: Setting And Narrative Style” by Sheila Hones
- Hones, Sheila. “Literary geography and the short story: setting and narrative style.” Cultural geographies 17.4 (2010): 473-485.
- Hones, Sheila. “Literary Geography and the Short Story: Setting and Narrative Style.” Cultural Geographies, vol. 17, no. 4, 2010, pp. 473–85. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44251372. Accessed 23 Feb. 2025.
- Blair, Sara. “Cultural Geography and the Place of the Literary.” American Literary History, vol. 10, no. 3, 1998, pp. 544–67. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/490111 Accessed 23 Feb. 2025.
- Hart, Deborah. “A Literary Geography of Soweto.” GeoJournal, vol. 12, no. 2, 1986, pp. 191–95. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41143617. Accessed 23 Feb. 2025.
- Kennedy, Joy. “The Edge of the Map: Feminist Geography and Literature.” Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, vol. 6, no. 1, 2004, pp. 79–90. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41207039. Accessed 23 Feb. 2025.