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In the 1980s and 1990s, the leap and innovation of memory theory coincided with the shift of New Cultural Geography to the symbolic study of landscapes, providing an opportunity for the union of memory and landscapes. Pierre Nora discovered the collectivity, materiality, and spatiality of memory. The collectivity of memory refers to the shaping of people’s memories of the past not only by brain chemistry and individual psychology but also by group interaction, social institutions, and cultural practices. The materiality and spatiality of memory refer to the construction of “sites of memory,” which include physical places such as monuments, historical sites, cultural heritage, etc., as well as ceremonial activities to visit these places. Landscape studies focused on “sites of memory” have matured in the 21st century, presenting dialectical thinking on the relationship between landscapes and memory. 

Chapter Two Landscape Metaphor and Collective Memory

2.1 The Tightrope Walker - Balanced Collective Memory

The high-wire walking landscape is based on the true event of French artist Philippe Petit’s high-wire walking in 1974. The novel portrays the artist’s high-wire walking event as the center of this rotating world and draws a picture of life in New York society in the 1970s. The time element in the landscape narrative presents a spatialized state of narration. The landscape plays a role in providing an intuitive visual experience in spatial layout. The landscape also has the function of gathering time. The time elements injected into the landscape are mainly presented in the form of memories. The time element in the landscape narrative breaks the chronological sequence of the narrative through the flow of memories. Therefore, the tightrope walker’s wire not only links many different stories but also connects the past and present. After the terrorist attacks, the collapse of the Twin Towers became a collective memory of all Americans. This wire links the destroyed Twin Towers, the devastated soul, and the lost courage. In this section, McCann uses the method of “anti-9/11” to deconstruct history and reshape a balanced past. 

2.1.1 The Balance and Art of the Viewed Landscape

The tightrope walker is a key character both in structure and theme. He connects the different narrators and fills the temporal gaps in the novel. According to Hamilton Carroll, the tightrope walking landscape is “the central spine” of the novel, gathering all the central characters together to achieve harmony and consolation, and revealing interrelated themes of death, fall, and art. The tightrope walker's rope not only links many different stories but also connects the past and present. At the beginning of the fourth volume of the novel, the first explicit time is mentioned in the text when Jaslyn takes a plane to visit Claire in New York. It’s October 2006. 

2.2 9/11-Unbalanced Collective Memory

“Landscape narrative follows a series of techniques and strategies in narrative theory, using narrative methods and rhetorical devices, focusing on elements such as characters, time, space, perspective, plot, etc., to construct the overall narrative framework. At the same time, by combining the metaphorical function behind the landscape, an emotional structure between characters and the landscape is established.” (Wang Shaoping and本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。