Deep Chronotopes Map

The complex shape of the deep chronotopes map is created by the novel’s remarkable chronotopic variety (containing ten of a possible eleven) and the connectedness of these chronotopes. The external, or public, chronotopes ('encounter', 'road', 'provincial town', 'public square') frame an inner star of more internal or private chronotopes ('castle', 'idyll', 'metanarrative' with 'parlour' figuring in both).  'Metanarrative' is located at the middle of the map and is by far the most interconnected chronotope. Its centrality calls attention to the ways the fiction is crafted. Characters are rarely on the road; the narrative dwells little on journeys and is focussed far more on encounters in key places  This focus is registered in the dominance of the 'provincial town' chronotope as we would expect for a provincial novel.