Selected Aspects of Space in Gilbert Keith Chesterton’s Manalive

The objective of the article is to analyse selected aspects of space in Manalive (1912) by Gilbert Keith Chesterton and present how they illustrate and convey the meanings of the novel. The analysis, which is based on a close reading of the text, draws on various aspects of spatial dimension and refers to the topos of the garden and Otto Friedrich Bollnow’s selected terms formulated in his Human Space. The first part of the article examines the invading nature of the wind, as a result of which different spaces merge and which literally brings the character of Innocent Smith, who challenges everybody and everything around him. The second section is devoted to the garden space, whereas the third part shows the vertical movement that is connoted by the motif of height. The analysis demonstrates how the process in which the fossilised world of other characters is gradually transformed by Smith is further reinforced and reflected by the motif of space, including the main protagonist’s renderings of space and changes in perspective. Smith, being the character who is the title “Manalive”, in his playing with space, opens others to life.