Digital humanities affect: The evolution and revolution of spatial information organization in science fiction

Abstract

The spatial information of literature refers to the representation of physical or conscious space in literary works, including position, shape, structure, features, and relationships. The spatial information organization and its method are essential to the whole process of literature production, circulation, acceptance, and reproduction, which is conducive to a deeper exploration of the aesthetic essence of literature in the information era. Taking the organization of spatial information in science fiction as an example, this paper investigates the way of interaction between informatics and literature, explores the function of spatial information in the narrative of science fiction, and discovers digital humanistic laws of literary information organization. This study finds that the spatial information of early science fiction is organized in horizontal, vertical, axial, and causal modes; in the era of digital humanities, influenced by information technology such as the internet, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence, literary space has experienced revolutions characteristic of time-space integration, boundary dissolution, dimensional change, and virtualization; the spatial information organization of contemporary science fiction adopts nested, reticulated, parallel, interactive, and reverse patterns; on the whole, it is featured with fluidity, chaos, correlation, and mutation, creating a unique digital humanistic spectacle.