The Spatial Event of Writing: John Galsworthy and the creation of 'Fraternity'

In recent years literary geography has begun to explore not only the literary product, but the process and practice of literary creation. This turns attention to the 'becoming' of a literary text, to what goes on not only as pen meets paper, but to what happens prior to and after this act: to what inspires it, influences it and develops it. Drawing on the work of Sheila Hones, this paper explores the practice of writing through an attention to the 'spatial event' of the text. It takes as its focus John Galsworthy and examines the socio-spatial relationships through which his novel Fraternity (1909) was crafted. These socio-spatial relationships demonstrate how writing is more than a situated undertaking and is, instead, a practice that occurs over the times and spaces of lived experience.