Murakami's "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" is one that came to my mind.

https://smile.amazon.com/Wind-Up-Bird-Chronicle-Novel/dp/0679775439/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0679775439&pd_rd_r=21JKYXRS6TZD4SY6PAK7&pd_rd_w=IGQGI&pd_rd_wg=KIueu&psc=1&refRID=21JKYXRS6TZD4SY6PAK7

Thank you, Rafael – I've read a few of Murakami's novels, but not this one. I'll check it out this weekend and look into what I might compare it with. 

Hi Vimbai, any Wole Soyinka´s novel could work, and Chinua Achebe too. Two very famous Afrincan authors.

I have a forthcoming article which addresses issues of spatiality in South African railway poetry - not strictly 'fiction', I know, but might be of use. The philosophical background comes from Bergson, Bachelard and Minkowski: 

"Retentir: A Poetics of the Railway Station." scrutiny2: Issues in Southern African English Literature. 21.2 (2016): 1-20.

Dear Marina, Laurence and Nicoletta,

Thank you all for your input and insights. The Poetics of Space is very much a new area of study for me and I am enjoying everything I've read so far. Your recommendations are all really useful, and greatly appreciated. 

I look forward to reading all your suggestions.

Check out this my work on https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/504765 or on https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01B2GMXBY. but the work is in French. Therein,  I dealt with Northern Nigeria's phenomina.

Re. JAPAN

I can second Murakami's 'Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

But also--Murakami, 1Q84: Books I-III

You could look at writers/movies dealing with the partition - Bapsi Sidhwa (and Earth), Amrita Pritam (Pinjar), etc if you are interested in space from the perspective of nation and nationality.

Also, Agha Shahid Ali's poems about Kashmir.

You could use Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, specifically his novel A Grain of Wheat if you want to focus on space from the perspective of Nationality and post colonial.

I think most postcolonial works bring up space and spatiality, since this is a core issue. Off the cuff, Ben Okri's The Famished Road, Chinoa Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Thrity Umrigar's The Space Between Us, or Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist - as do the works by Salman Rushdie and Amitav Ghosh

Christina, I love 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' –  I'm due a re-read of that! 

You have all been so generous with your answers, thank you! I am familiar with some of the recommended texts but hadn't thought to view them from a spatial perspective, so all your suggestions are really helpful, and I can't thank you all enough!

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is rich in terms of spatial signifiers and proxemics 

I second CHinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Fantastic book and it's easily accessible for a high school audience. I would also suggest for Japanese literature anything by Haruki Murakami (why he hasn't won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature yet is utterly beyond me. He can tend to deal with more adult themes, but I would suggest either "Kafka On The Shore", "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" or "Norwegian Wood" (yes, the book is named after a Beatles song). Also, "In Praise of Shadows" is a wonderful long-form creative essay about Japanese aesthetic and the use of negative space in their literature, architecture, and even their food, as well as the novel "Naomi", both by Junichiro Tanizaki. While he is a writer from the early to mid-20th century, his works are incredibly important and "In Praise of Shadows" deals specifically with the use of spatiality. "Naomi" is particularly groundbreaking because it carries themes similar to (but not exactly the same) as "Lolita" and even predates the book by a few decades I believe, but the novel went largely unnoticed by the international literary community because of Japan's insular culture at the time period. It hasn't been until recent decades that we've had the immense benefit of seeing Tanizaki's work in translation.

I would also suggest checking out the special ecopoetics issue of "Interim Literary Magazine" that is put out yearly from UNLV. They had a special issue back in 2011 that was over 400+ pages long and featured numerous writers who all take the issues you mentioned in your message into account. I'm friends with/a colleague of the managing editor so I've sent her a message requesting information on which specific volume/issue it was and if there's any way to back order copies of it.

I'd also suggest any of the wonderful poets and writers associated with Green Writers Press, specifically Richard Jarrett's book, "A Hundred Million Years of Nectar Dances". Below this message I've added links to the "Interim", "Green Writers Press" websites and the wikipedia page Junichiro Tanizaki. Hope this helps!

Oh! And for Middle-Eastern/Pakistani/Indian writing, the poet/translator Mani Rao and her amazing work would also be a fantastic avenue to explore, and Mani is also a very kind person. She got her translation of the Baghadvita published by Penguin Press and was a wonderful student to work with while we were at UNLV's graduate/doctoral creative writing program. And while these are both contemporary, white, American writers, Olivia Clare's book "The 26-Hour Day" and Andy S. Nicholson's collection "A Lamp Brighter Than Foxfire" would also be excellent sources for you.

http://www.interimpoetics.org/

http://greenwriterspress.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jun'ichir%C5%8D_Tanizaki

Feel free to message me or reply to this post with any further questions. Good luck and hope this helps~

• Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being is incredibly spatial and temporal and, whilst it's written by a Canadian-American, it takes place (at least in part) in Japan.
• Hanif Kureishi's The Buddha of Suburbia is also a great shout. It's split in half by the chapters 'In the city' and 'In the suburbs' which would resonate with some of Bachelard's ideas as well as De Certeau in the first volume of The Practice of Everyday Life.
• Monica Ali's Brick Lane perhaps? Broadly, that deals with Muslim women in relation to public and private spheres.
• Marlon James' A Brief History of Seven Killings is also very spatial but you would need to broaden your geographic scope to the Caribbean. It takes place in Kingston but the reader is made very aware of the differences between 'Kingstons' according to neighbourhoods and gang territories.

Happy reading!

Murakami's 1Q84 is wonderful in its use of impossible spaces. Also interesting is his non-fiction book "Underground". I discuss both in my book "Narrative Space and Time" (Routledge 2014).

These are some wonderful suggestions, some I have read and some I have put on my list to read. I cannot thank you all enough for taking the time to answer my question and offer further help. So kind and generous of all of you, and I really appreciate your thoughtful answers. 

I've also looked at Leila Aboulela's novels (good to read alongside Monica Ali, I think) as well as Brian Chikwava's Harare North, and NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names.

My challenge will be which to focus on for research and which to read (and re-read!) for pleasure!

Michael, if you are able to assist with the issue of  "Interim Literary Magazine" I would be most grateful. It sounds really interesting.

Thank you all so much!

Vimbai

I think you might find Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun interesting in terms of her treatment of spatiality. Nigerian civil war texts introduce an interesting dimension to the spatial discourse. Have you read Ken Saro Wiwa's Soza Boy? It would make a refreshing read for your research.

Beste! 

Ben Okri's The Famished Road, Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North, Bessie Head's, Maru are my suggestions.

Thank you, Adewale.

Okri, Salih and Head were on my list and are all great reads. I've now completed my paper on this topic but may come back to it again at some point.

Thank you everyone for your input; it was much appreciated and very useful!