GUNTER GRASS’S ‘THE TIN DRUM’: A NARRATIVE CHRONOTOPE

Abstract

Time and Space are considered as the two building blocks that constructs the layers of any narrative work. Time is viewed as a dimension of looking into a narrative work and space is something that binds the time together with it. The construction of time and space in narrative is in relation with special reference to Bakhtin’s ‘Chronotope’ (Time- Space Configuration) which is an aesthetic way of delineating human beings in relation to their temporal and spatial world. Mikhail Bakhtin coined the term literary chronotope referring to the unity of time and space inherent in any narrative work. The concept of ‘Space’ is inherently embedded in the narrative structure of a text along with time and both cannot be dissociated from each other. Space has the power to prefigure the balance between the different layers that builds the narrative of any literary work. This paper will explore the constructs of Time and Space as present in the Narrative of ‘The Tin Drum’ by Gunter Grass. This paper will also deal with the idea of time that is continuously shifting and space as a locale in construct that has been redefined in ‘The Tin Drum’ by Gunter Grass.