In my master's thesis, I analyse the setting from the perspective of spatial literary studies, which understands space in the terms of the interplay of natural and socio-geographical features. First, I present different approaches to the study of literary setting: I have focused on the research around the notion of literary geography as proposed by Barbara Piatti and the geocriticism as proposed by Bertrand Westphal, because they complement each other: while Piatti focuses on geographical aspect of the literary setting, Westphal emphasises the sociocultural aspect. Using these approaches, I analysed the novels The Voyage Out by the English writer Virginia Woolf and Her Life by the Slovenian writer Zofka Kveder. In both novels, the setting (and its changes) is an important element of the plot and does not serve only as a backdrop or background. The analysis has shown that the social implications arising from the natural geography have an important influence on the course of the story and the development of the main character in both novels.
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