Narratology

About: Narratology is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2833 publications have been published within this topic receiving 50998 citations. The topic is also known as: narrative theory.

Interpreting the Strengths Perspective Through Narrative Theory

Abstract: While much literature has been written on the strengths perspective since its inception, an ongoing project is further elaboration to clear up misconceptions and misapplications. Much of the confusion arises from the strengths perspective's embrace of postmodern thought, and hence, is reflective of the broader debate between modern and postmodern thought currently occurring in social work. Through the application of narrative theory, this article seeks to describe three distinct facets—causality, selfhood, and reality—wherein a shift in conceptualizing is needed to move from a modernist orientation to a postmodern orientation toward practice. Making such a shift is vital for correctly applying the strengths perspective to practice.

Neo-Aristotelian Rhetorical Narrative Study: Need for Integrating Style, Context and Intertext

Abstract: Along with the "narrative turn" in the past several decades, the critical field has been marked by the thriving development of narrative theory and criticism Of the numerous approaches to fictional narrative, the rhetorical (since the 1960s), the feminist (since the 1980s), and the cognitive (since the 1990s) have been the most influential In terms of the rhetorical approach which has been shedding significant light on the relation among the implied author, narrator, character, and audience, Wayne C Booth (1921-2005) and James Phelan (1951-) have successively figured as leaders of its two stages of development, first from the 1960s to the 1980s, and then from the 1990s up to the present Booth and Phelan are respectively representatives of the second and third generations of the neo-Aristotelian Chicago School of criticism Although the latter generations of the neo-Aristotelians differ from the first in significant ways, such as moving from the concern primarily with the poetic (the text) to a concern with the rhetorical (author-audience communication) or with the rhetorical-poetic (Phelan, Experiencing 79-94), in some important aspects they bear the imprint of the first generation as represented by R S Crane (1886-1967) The early neo-Aristotelians, on one hand, marked off their approach from other branches of criticism and, on the other, advocated pluralism or the coexistence of different approaches The disciplinary boundary has enabled the Chicago School to take on its own characteristics and contribute to the study of literature in its unique ways But the boundary has also brought certain limitations There are two self-imposed preclusions that have very much persisted up to the present in the rhetorical study of fictional narrative: first, the preclusion of style or language, and second, the preclusion of the context of creation This essay argues that, in order to get closer to the implied author's norms and better account for the relation among author, narrator, character and audience, it is necessary to integrate style, context of creation, and intertextual comparison into rhetorical criticism Inclusion instead of Exclusion of Style Continuous Exclusion of Style or Language The first generation of Chicago critics followed Aristotle in subordinating literary language to the larger structure of the work in a given genre Indeed, neglecting style or language enabled them to focus on the "architecture" of literary works, or more specifically, to concentrate on "how fully a given poem exemplifies the common structural principles of the genre to which it has been assigned" (Crane, "Introduction" 1-2) Moreover, the early Chicago critics engaged in a fierce polemic against New Critics whose exclusive concern with language and irony they found excessively limiting (see Phelan, Experiencing 79-87) The antagonism of the Chicago School towards the language-oriented New Criticism added to the preclusion of style This tendency was inherited by contemporary rhetorical critics In the afterword to the second edition of The Rhetoric of Fiction (1983), Booth very much insists on his underplaying language or style in the first edition because of "the non-verbal basis of fictional effects" (461) To him, the earlier Chicago critics' development of Aristotle's method provides "the most helpful, least limiting view of character and event--those tough realities that have never submitted happily to merely verbal analysis" (460) He subscribes to Joseph E Baker's view that the "aesthetic surface" of fiction is found, not in words, but in the "world" of character, event, and value "concretely represented and temporally arranged" (Baker 100, qtd in Booth 480) The preclusion of language is reinforced through rhetorical critics' drawing on structuralist narratology Many rhetorical critics today have adopted the narratological distinction between story and discourse (see Shen "Story-Discourse," "Defense") …

Playing the hero: How games take the concept of storytelling from representation to presentation

Abstract: This article explores an alternative understanding of storytelling, which has risen with the emergence of new forms of narrative media, particularly with the medium of computer games. I explicate the distinctive logic behind this novel understanding and investigate how this logic differs from prior conceptualizations of narrative. In the past decades, marginal formats such as the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book and experimental practices like Experience Theatre already tested the concept of narrative as developed once in structuralist narratology. Narrative experiments like these have now become mainstream, story-driven computer games being one of the prime examples. Drawing on recent theories on the distinction between representation and presentation from the fields of media studies and the arts, this article explains the limits of a structuralist approach, and, in the process, develops an additional concept of narrative, more suited for studying the popular story-driven games of today.

Introduction À la Narratologie: Action et Narration

Abstract: Francoise Revaz. Introduction a la narratologie: Action et narration. Brussels: Groupe De Boeck, 2009. 224 pp. ISBN 978-2-8011-1601-2. In this introductory work, Francoise Revaz approaches the field of narratology from the dual perspectives of theories of action and of narration, elaborating a framework of narrative categories defined in terms of degrees of narrativity. She then applies that framework to two contemporary examples of narrative production: the novels of the Belgian author Jean-Philippe Toussaint and serialized news reports. Revaz examines how those texts both exploit and subvert traditional narrative strategies, nominating Toussaint's works as an exemplar of the French postmodern novel's "return to narrative" (141), and exploring how serialized news stories narrativize factual news accounts in the desire to capture and sustain their readers' attention. The book begins with a definition of the concepts of action and event. Revaz notes that from a traditional narratological perspective, narrative is defined as the representation of actions or events, yet the distinction between the two is frequently not considered. In the field of analytic philosophy, on the other hand, action and event are considered to be distinct, with action characterized as a motivated, intentional act performed by a human agent, while event is considered to be an uncontrolled phenomenon subject only to a process of cause and effect. Immediately after positing that tidy definition, however, Revaz points out that matters are frequently more complicated. Many human actions are unintentional or simply the result of an external cause. As Revaz observes, discussions of intentionality and premeditation occur regularly in judicial proceedings, where degrees of motivation are central to the interpretation of guilt. She concludes that rather than conceiving of action and event as dichotomous terms, a more useful model would be a continuum with the terms at opposite poles, so that any given human act could fall somewhere on the horizon between action and event. In her second chapter, Revaz reminds us that just as descriptions of action can be nuanced by intentionality and thus become closer to event, so can events be described in ways that bring them closer to action. That occurs frequently in myth and in folktales, and Revaz illustrates her argument with a series of four Swiss folktales in which clouds, storms, and other natural phenomena are described as acting with human-like agency. That process is not limited to the realm of literature, however, and Revaz demonstrates with abundant examples how contemporary journalistic accounts of dramatic natural phenomena often allude to "irrational, even supernatural" explanations, as for example when "Mother Nature" is described as "taking vengeance" in retaliation for human-caused climate change (65). Revaz then turns her attention to the theory of narrative, noting that while narrative is omnipresent, there is no single consensus as to what exactly can be defined as such. She rehearses a variety of debates over the question of what is and what is not narrative, ultimately concluding that while there are no linguistic markers specific to narrative, there are certain semantic properties commonly accepted as indicative of narrative status, namely, a chronological and causally linked representation of actions with an unexpected or atypical development and a transformation between the initial and the final state (100). Just as the dichotomy between action and event can be resolved through the introduction of degrees of intentionality, Revaz suggests leaving behind the binary definitions of narrative posited by classical narratology in favor of a discussion of degrees of narrati vity. Illustrating her points with a variety of examples, she formulates a framework of three narrative categories - chronicle [chronique], account [relation], and narrative [recit] - arranged in terms of increasing levels of narrativity (104-105). …

Emplotment, embodiment, engagement: narrative technology in support of physical education, sport and physical activity.

Abstract: This paper is based on a keynote lecture delivered at the International Association of Physical Education in Higher Education 2011 Conference, University of Limerick, on the sub theme: Technologies in Support of Physical Education, Sport, and Physical Activity. The paper outlines and illustrates a framework: narrative technology, which can be used for designing computing to support and enhance physical education, sport and physical activity. The framework is based on a ternary of foundational concepts: (1) physical engagement, (2) narrative, and (3) interactive technology. The paper outlines the theoretical basis of the approach, which is informed by contemporary debates and themes in education and educational technology, including: narratology, embodied design (or design for embodiment), and interactivity. Furthermore, from an empirical and practical perspective, two examples of the use of different types of computing are presented and discussed. The first intervention that is outlined focuses on the use...