“Own” and “alien” space in the novel “Dead Men Walking” by Steve Lyons

Abstract

The subject of this research is the peculiarities of organization of space in the novel “Dead Men Walking” by Steve Lyons from the perspective opposition “own – alien”. The research employs the cultural-historical method and comparative analysis. The article examines the peculiarities of perception of space in the novel. The basic conflict is association with intervention of the alien civilization on the planet of people. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the war erases the boundaries of “own” and “alien”, each of parties to the conflict has reason to believe that the planet is “their own”. The characters of the novel are divided into “living” and “dead”, which complicates the conflict and organization of space even more. Space in the literary text is the subject of multiple scientific articles. However, the works dedicated to examination of space in S. Lyons’ novel are not featured in modern literary studies, which defines the scientific novelty of this research. The conclusion is drawn that  for humanity and for alien civilization space is simultaneously “own” and “alien”, since other civilization existed on the planet for a long time prior to the arrival of humans. Moreover, the organization of space is complicated by the arrival of human forces of rom other planet, who were unfamiliar with the concept of “own” space at all, which affects the course of war and determines the fate of the characters in the novel. Such approach demonstrates that the concept of “own” and “alien” in the novel is vague due to the fact that it is impossible to unambiguously attribute the planet neither to “own” nor “alien” space.