Topic
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.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
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TL;DR: The authors argue for a middle way based on narrative theory that explores the interaction of "objective" events and their "subjective" interpretation, and explore the temporal structure of people's experiences focusing on both how a person's memories of the past and anticipations of the future influence their understanding and actions in the present.
Abstract: Narrative analysis builds on the strengths of qualitative research by examining the construction of meaning and symbolic systems in a framework that is explicitly temporal and that links research in the humanities with that in the social sciences. Qualitative methodologies often assume reported data accurately reflects the realities of lived experience. On the other hand some research drawing on cultural studies argues that the “facts” of a person's life are irrelevant. This paper argues for a middle way based on narrative theory that explores the interaction of “objective” events and their “subjective” interpretation. Further, narrative analysis enables exploration of the temporal structure of people's experiences focusing on both how a person's memories of the past and anticipations of the future influence their understanding and actions in the present. These points are developed drawing on the theory and methodology of both Symbolic Interactionism and Paul Ricoeur's Hermeneutics. The experiences of people living with HIV/AIDS are used to illustrate and explicate the usefulness of narrative analysis.
46 citations
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TL;DR: Narrative Medicine contributes to attempts to go beyond the positivist dominance in healthcare that threatens quality of care, as science alone cannot help us to understand the unpredictability and frailty of people.
Abstract: Narrative Medicine has emerged as a discipline from within the medical humanities1 and takes inspiration from philosophy, literature, poetry, art and social sciences theories. In particular, it is underpinned by philosophical approaches such as phenomenology, postmodernism and narratology, proposing that clinicians must attend to the lived experience of their patients and apply the science to the person.2 Meanwhile, the link between medicine and literature is evident in the growing volume of texts written about professionals', or lay people's experiences of illness and disease.3–8 In exploring this link further, Charon9 has contributed greatly to consolidate the theory of Narrative Medicine. She defines it as ‘medicine practiced with the narrative competencies to recognise, absorb, interpret and be moved by the stories of illness’.9 She suggests that, in exploring texts and reading them closely, one finds the tools of language such as metaphor, plot, character and temporality. She suggests that learning such skills enables clinicians to recognise that same language when it appears in clinical interaction practice. This ‘narrative competence’ can be fostered through education initiatives that particularly explore literature, creative and reflective writing, storytelling and poetry.9
As Lewis2 explains, the question is about what kind of healthcare we want to deliver. Those who practise Narrative Medicine suggest that the adoption of this approach may help marry the art and science, thus improving quality in delivering a more person-centred type of care.2 ,10 With its emphasis on the patient experience, Narrative Medicine complements the current dominance of productivity, efficiency and evidence-based care. Similarly, Narrative Medicine contributes to attempts to go beyond the positivist dominance in healthcare that threatens quality of care, as science alone cannot help us to understand the unpredictability and frailty of people.11–13 To secure support for Narrative Medicine education, there …
46 citations
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TL;DR: The Synopsis 2 Conference as mentioned in this paper was a turning point in the field of narratology, with a wide variety of topics and attitudes toward narration and its assumptions made for lively and serious debates.
Abstract: By the accidents of life, I started out in the literary profession as a narratologist, having French as my foreign language and structuralism as my training. By another accident, I started in Israel. As one of the young, unknown invitees of the Synopsis 2 Conference where an unusual number of established stars were mixed with a good number of beginners like myself, with the most fortunate result, I optimistically brought a formalist, quite technical paper written in French to a conference where most people tended to speak English and some to suspect formalism. My feeling awkwardly out of place was to be combatted by actively participating in the debates, and that this was possible, that within half a day I felt excited and encouraged while having completely revised my views of narratology, was due to the exceptional intellectual and humane qualities of this conference. I have been to a large number of conferences since, but just as childhood bliss is irretrievably lost in later life, so did I never feel the same deep satisfaction again. What was so special about this conference that it deserves memorialization? First of all, it was intellectually open and yet focused enough: a wide variety of topics and attitudes toward narratology and its assumptions made for lively and serious debates. In retrospect, the conference really gave an overview of narratology as a field, neither taking it for granted nor rejecting it a priori. It also marked a turning-point in the discipline. Looking at what the field is today, it seems hard to tell if the conference was at the vanguard or the core of the development; if it announced what was going to happen or demonstrated what was
46 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, a nuanced understanding of contextual reading practices in human rights discourse by analyzing Joe Sacco's Palestine (2001) and Footnotes in Gaza (2009) through the rhetorical concept of kairos and current theories of comics narratology is presented.
Abstract: Although the graphic narrative genre is increasingly being utilized to represent human rights atrocities in complex ways, scholarship on this topic tends to focus on the analysis of issues of historical representation Therefore, this essay contributes to this conversation a nuanced understanding of contextual reading practices in human rights discourse by analyzing Joe Sacco’s Palestine (2001) and Footnotes in Gaza (2009) through the rhetorical concept of kairos and current theories of comics narratology If kairos draws attention to the layered historical contexts operating within Sacco’s graphic narratives as they stake claims for human rights in Palestine and comics studies scholarship focuses on the spatio-temporal dynamics of the graphic narrative form, then together these critical approaches can disrupt the linear notions of time and bounded spaces involved in the denial of Palestinians’ rights to property, land, and return Such an approach draws attention to the urgency of Sacco’s human rights project even while he questions its efficacy
45 citations
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01 Jan 2008TL;DR: In this article, the make-believe theory of Kendall L. Walton, which explains fiction as a family resemblance of all representational arts, is adopted in order to explain the fictionality of fictional narratives.
Abstract: The aim of the study is to develop an integrative theoretical model of fictional narrative. The make-believe theory of Kendall L. Walton, which explains fiction as a family resemblance of all representational arts, is adopted in order to explain the fictionality of fictional narrative. In the first part of the study, Kendall Walton’s make-believe theory is critically examined. In part two, major issues of theories of fiction are discussed, such as the relation of fiction to reality and truth. The adopted make- believe model is contrasted with alternative theories of fiction, both for theories of fiction in representational arts as well as theories dealing specifically with fictionality in narrative literature. In part three, an integrative theoretical model of fictional narrative is proposed. Fictional narrative is defined by making it at least implicitly fictionally true that it is narrated or mediated, even in cases where no teller-figure can be traced at the surface level of the text. The model is explained as ‘mimesis of narrating’, since it is not the mimesis of any specific world or reality that is the prevailing characteristic of fictional narrative, but rather the mimesis of the act of narrating. In addition, several potentially fictionality-specific narratological categories are examined. The study shows that unreliable narration, metalepsis, metanarration and mise en abyme are narratological categories which can appear in both fictional and non-fictional narratives and can therefore not be regarded as fiction- specific devices. The only fiction-specific category that was examined is metafiction.
45 citations