Basic Elements of Narrative

by Herman, David

• ISBN13: 9781405141543
• ISBN10: 1405141549
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-01-27
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Basic Elements of Narrative outlines a way of thinking about what narrative is and how to identify its basic elements across various media, introducing key concepts developed by previous theorists and contributing original ideas to the growing body of scholarship on stories. Includes an overview of recent developments in narrative scholarship Provides an accessible introduction to key concepts in the field Views narrative as a cognitive structure, type of text, and resource for interpersonal communication Uses examples from literature, face to face interaction, graphic novels, and film to explore the core features of narrative Includes a glossary of key terms, full bibliography, and comprehensive index Appropriate for multiple audiences, including students, non-specialists, and experts in the field

Author Biography

David Herman teaches in the Department of English at Ohio State University, where he co-founded Project Narrative, a new interdisciplinary initiative designed to promote state-of-the-art research and teaching in the area of narrative studies. He is editor of the Frontiers of Narrative book series and also the new journal Storyworlds, both published by the University of Nebraska Press. Having published many research articles on aspects of narrative, he is the author, editor, or coeditor of eight books in the field, including Universal Grammar and Narrative Form (1995), Narratologies: New Perspectives on Narrative Theory (1999), Story Logic: Problems and Possibilities of Narrative (2002), Narrative Theory and the Cognitive Sciences (2003), The Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory (coedited with Manfred Jahn and Marie-Laure Ryan, 2005), and The Cambridge Companion to Narrative (2007).

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiv
The Elements	p. xvi
Getting Started: A Thumbnail Sketch of the Approach	p. 1
Toward a Working Definition of Narrative	p. 1
Profiles of Narrative	p. 7
Narrative: Basic Elements	p. 9
Framing the Approach: Some Background and Context	p. 23
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Narrative and Narrative Theory	p. 23
Major Trends in Recent Scholarship on Narrative	p. 26
Back to the Elements: Narrative Occasions	p. 37
Situating Stories	p. 37
Sociolinguistic Approaches	p. 40
Positioning Theory	p. 55
The Narrative Communication Model	p. 63
Conclusion	p. 74
Temporality, Particularity, and Narrative: An Excursion into the Theory of Text Types	p. 75
From Contexts of Narration to Narrative as a Type of Text	p. 75
Text Types and Categorization Processes	p. 79
Narrative as a Text-Type Category: Descriptions versus Stories versus Explanations	p. 89
Coda: Text Types, Communicative Competence, and the Role of Stories in Science	p. 100
The Third Element; or, How to Build a Storyworld	p. 105
Narratives as Blueprints for Worldmaking	p. 105
Narrative Ways of Worldmaking	p. 108
Narrative Worlds: A Survey of Approaches	p. 118
Configuring Narrative Worlds: The WHAT, WHERE, and WHEN Dimensions of Storyworlds	p. 128
Worlds Disrupted: Narrativity and Noncanonical Events	p. 133
The Nexus of Narrative and Mind	p. 137
The Consciousness Factor	p. 137
Consciousness across Narrative Genres	p. 139
Experiencing Minds: What It's Like, Qualia, Raw Feels	p. 143
Storied Minds: Narrative Foundations of Consciousness?	p. 153
Appendix	p. 161
Literary Narrative: Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" (1927)	p. 161
Narrative Told during Face-to-Face Communication: UFO or the Devil (2002)	p. 166
Excerpted Panels from Ghost World (1997), a Graphic Novel by Daniel Clowes	p. 173
Screenshots from Terry Zwigoff's Film Version of Ghost World (2001)	p. 178
Glossary	p. 180
Notes	p. 195
References	p. 215
Index	p. 235
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