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Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film
31 May 1980-
About: The article was published on 1980-05-31 and is currently open access. It has received 1885 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Narrative structure & Narrative criticism.
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TL;DR: For more than a century in the long shadow of Sir James Frazer, the study of Greek myths typically has started from the assumption that "a myth" must be extracted from the narrative vehicles that conveyed it before a scholar can do anything with the myth, qua myth.
Abstract: For more than a century in the long shadow of Sir James Frazer, the study of Greek myths typically has started from the assumption that "a myth" must be extracted from the narrative vehicles that conveyed it before a scholar can do anything with the myth, qua myth. For Frazer, this assump- tion grew naturally out of his zeal for comparative work: until he had set aside what he perceived as the niceties in which an Aeschylus or a Homer had draped a myth, he could not demonstrate how it was similar to other myths that he had gathered from the four corners of the globe and how they were all, as he believed, derived from a single original myth. Although many of Frazer's other ideas have been discarded by later generations, his tendency to essentialize myths has survived—not only amongst those who, like Frazer, focus on the connections between myths and rituals, but also by those who embrace structuralist or psychoanalytical approaches to myth, mutatis mutandis. If myths are to reveal the lost rationales behind mysterious rituals, the universal concerns of the human psyche, or the basic structures of the human mind, it has seemed necessary fi rst to pare away their surface details, however enchanting they might be (indeed, the more enchanting the details, the more they seem to threaten to obscure the "real" myth underneath).
25 citations
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25 Nov 2010TL;DR: This review concludes Glossary of the novel, Don Quixote, which aims to explain why the novel matters and what can be done to improve the quality of the manuscript.
Abstract: Beginning its life as the sensational entertainment of the eighteenth century, the novel has become the major literary genre of modern times. Drawing on hundreds of examples of famous novels from all over the world, Marina MacKay explores the essential aspects of the novel and its history: where novels came from and why we read them; how we think about their styles and techniques, their people, plots, places, and politics. Between the main chapters are longer readings of individual works, from Don Quixote to Midnight's Children. A glossary of key terms and a guide to further reading are included, making this an ideal accompaniment to introductory courses on the novel.
25 citations
06 Jan 2003
TL;DR: The use of individual resumes framed within McCraken's 'long interview' brings a certain amount of structure to the narrative inquiry technique, allowing for an in-depth investigation and the gathering of rich biographical personal accounts of the IS professional's interpretations of specific career path impacts.
Abstract: The research reported in this paper employed narrative inquiry in an innovative way in a study of the key factors that influence the career paths of information systems (IS) professionals. The interview technique was based upon McCracken's (1988) 'long interview', which allows the research participants to reflect upon the domain of discourse in a relatively unbiased and free-flowing manner. Individual resumes were employed as the main instrument to guide the interview and to document the narratives. The resumes helped ground the discussion in the IS professionals' personal experiences, assisted these professionals to reflect upon and report these experiences in a sequential account of events as they transpired throughout their careers. The use of individual resumes framed within McCraken's 'long interview' brings a certain amount of structure to the narrative inquiry technique, allowing for an in-depth investigation and the gathering of rich biographical personal accounts of the IS professional's interpretations of specific career path impacts.
25 citations
TL;DR: For many writers it became a given that whatever "time" was, it was characterized above all by multiplicity as discussed by the authors, and the new public institution of world standardized time was countered by a profound awareness of the diversity of private time, fostered by the development of history and psychology as disciplines and the theories of Henri Bergson, Albert Einstein, and others.
Abstract: S INCE THE LATE nineteenth century, as Stephen Kern demonstrates in his rich history The Culture of Time and Space, how human beings perceive and experience time has changed dramatically. As the twentieth century began, the new public institution of world standardized time was countered by a profound awareness of the diversity of private time, a revolution in thinking about temporality fostered by the development of history and psychology as disciplines and the theories of Henri Bergson, Albert Einstein, and others. For many writers it became a given that whatever "time" was, it was characterized above all by multiplicity. Modern-
25 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a set of unified principles that underlie the construction, signification and communication of any sign system and explain how the textual components get their significative value within a given literary discourse.
Abstract: Semiotics principally investigates and explores the production and function of signs and sign systems as well as the methods of their signification. It is mainly concerned with how a sign signifies and what precedes it at deeper level to result in the manifestation of its meaning. For this purpose, it offers a set of unified principles that underlie the construction, signification and communication of any sign system. The literary text as a sign system serves as an artfully constructed fictional discourse that signifies only when a competent reader interprets its textual signs that are basically foregrounded by the application of different literary devices. Hence, the literary semiotics seeks to explain how the textual components get their significative value within a given literary discourse. In order to do so, the conventions, discursive forces and cultural aspects of the text should be taken into consideration in explaining the processes of signification.
25 citations