Deep Chronotope Map

The deep chronotope map shows that Silas Marner has a varied chronotopic structure; it uses ten of the twelve possible categories employed by Chronotopic Cartographies. It also shows that while 'parlour', 'encounter' and 'provincial town' are the largest chronotopes, 'idyll' is the most connected. This neatly corresponds with the novel’s dual structure of historical realism and folklore, of the literal and the figurative. This unusual prominence of myth in the novel also explains the comparative infrequency of metanarrative, unusual for the realist novel and Eliot in particular. Characters and plot dominate, where the narrator remains muted and addresses to the reader implicit.