The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative

by H. Porter Abbott

• ISBN13: 9780521650335
• ISBN10: 052165033X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-03-04
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative is designed to help readers understand what narrative is, how it is constructed, how it acts upon us, how we act upon it, how it is transmitted, and how it changes when the medium or the cultural context change. Porter Abbott emphasises that narrative is found not just in the arts but everywhere in the ordinary course of people's lives. Abbott grounds his treatment of narrative by introducing it as a human phenomenon that is not restricted to literature, film, and theatre, but is found in all activities involving the representation of events in time. At the same time, he honours the fact that out of this common capability have come rich and meaningful narratives that we come back to and reflect on repeatedly in our lives. An indispensable tool for students and teachers alike, this book will guide readers through the fundamental aspects of narrative.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	x
Preface	xi
Acknowledgments	xiv
Narrative and life	1	(11)
The universality of narrative	1	(2)
Narrative and time	3	(3)
Narrative perception	6	(6)
Defining narrative	12	(13)
The bare minimum	12	(2)
Story and narrative discourse	14	(3)
The mediation (construction) of story	17	(3)
Constituent and supplementary events	20	(2)
Narrativity	22	(3)
The borders of narrative	25	(11)
Framing narratives	25	(1)
Paratexts	26	(1)
The outer limits of narrative	27	(4)
Is it narrative or is it life itself?	31	(5)
The rhetoric of narrative	36	(15)
The rhetoric of narrative	36	(1)
Causation	37	(3)
Normalization	40	(2)
Masterplots	42	(4)
Narrative rhetoric at work	46	(5)
Closure	51	(11)
Conflict: the agon	51	(1)
Closure and endings	52	(1)
Closure, suspense, and surprise	53	(1)
Closure at the level of expectations	54	(2)
Closure at the level of questions	56	(1)
The absence of closure	57	(5)
Narration	62	(14)
A few words on interpretation	62	(1)
The narrator	63	(1)
Voice	64	(2)
Focalization	66	(1)
Distance	67	(2)
Reliability	69	(1)
Free indirect style	70	(2)
Narration on stage and screen	72	(4)
Interpreting narrative	76	(17)
The implied author	77	(2)
Underreading	79	(3)
Overreading	82	(1)
Gaps	83	(2)
Cruxes	85	(3)
Repetition: themes and motifs	88	(5)
Three ways to interpret narrative	93	(12)
The question of wholeness in narrative	93	(2)
Intentional readings	95	(2)
Symptomatic readings	97	(3)
Adaptive readings	100	(5)
Adaptation across media	105	(18)
Adaptation as creative destruction	105	(2)
Duration and pace	107	(2)
Character	109	(2)
Figurative language	111	(3)
Gaps	114	(1)
Focalization	115	(3)
Constraints of the marketplace	118	(5)
Character and self in narrative	123	(15)
Character vs. action	123	(3)
Flat and round characters	126	(1)
Can characters be real?	127	(2)
Types	129	(2)
Autobiography	131	(3)
Life writing as performative	134	(4)
Narrative contestation	138	(18)
A contest of narratives	138	(4)
A narrative lattice-work	142	(2)
Shadow stories	144	(2)
Motivation and personality	146	(2)
Masterplots and types	148	(2)
Revising cultural masterplots	150	(2)
Battling narratives are everywhere	152	(4)
Narrative negotiation	156	(20)
Narrative negotiation	157	(5)
Critical reading as narrative negotiation	162	(6)
Closure, one more time	168	(3)
The end of closure?	171	(5)
Notes	176	(7)
Bibliography	183	(4)
Glossary and topical index	187	(11)
Index of authors and narratives	198