Spatial Patterning: The Narrative Gaze and the Visual Primitive

Whilst the previous chapter discussed the specific boundaries and patterned characteristics of topological frames, this chapter examines the act of looking and the importance of the visual gaze in pattern identification. The identification of a topological frame is only visible because we receive details on a narrator’s or character’s view. However, how much of that fictional view is influenced by the times and places of the author? Through an illustration of spatial patterning in a range of Victorian and Modernist texts, this chapter begins with an assessment of aesthetic practices within this period to assess potential cultural influence on topological frames. The remainder of the chapter will examine the visual perceptual system and argue that the patterning within topological frames stems from a more universal human operation: the visual primitive.