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.

Medieval narrative and modern narratology : subjects and objects of desire

Abstract: Evelyn Vitz's book, which began as a series of independent articles, includes chapters on a wide variety of medieval genres autobiographical apologia, dream allegory, chanson de geste, saint's life, and short tale from Abelard's Historia Calamitatum to Guillaume de Lords' Roman de la Rose. Her studies embrace both well-known works like the Lais of Marie de France, and less-studied pieces such as La Fille du Comte de Ponthieu. In each study, Vitz is preoccupied with different aspects of the self. The thread unifying these very different narratives is set out in the introductory essay: "to a striking degree each narrative genre specializes in certain relations among potential subjects in certain kinds of desire as providing motivation and closure to the narrative" (6). In order to approach medieval representations of the self, she makes use of narratological models (particularly those outlined by Greimas and Todorov), which nevertheless prove themselves unequal to the task. One of the striking features of this book is the author's critique of the models that she uses: in applying modern models to medieval narratives, Vitz manages to expose much of the ideological bias implicit in the supposedly neutral analysis of narrative structure. As she confronts contemporary

Theory of Mind and Fictions of Embodied Transparency

Abstract: ests include eighteenth-century British literature, narrative theory, and cognitive cultural studies. She is the author of Bastards and Foundlings: Illegitimacy in Eighteenth-Century England; Why We Read Fiction: Theory of Mind and the Novel, and Strange Concepts and the Stories They Make Possible; co-editor (with Jocelyn Harris) of Approaches to Teaching the Novels of Samuel Richardson, and editor of Introduction to Cognitive Cultural Studies.

The Construction of Fictional Minds

Abstract: In his introduction to a recently published volume of essays, Narratologies: New Perspectives on Narrative Analysis, David Herman explains what is meant by the term "postclassical narratology." He states, "Recently we have witnessed a small but unmistakable explosion of activity in the field of narrative studies; signs of this minor narratological renaissance include the publication of a spate of articles, spe cial issues, and books that rethink and recontextualize classical models for narrato logical research" (1). He also notes that "Postclassical narratology ... is marked by a profusion of new methodologies and research hypotheses; the result is a host of new perspectives on the forms and functions of narrative itself" (2-3). Such "recent research has highlighted aspects of narrative discourse that classical narratology ei ther failed or chose not to explore"(2). This is a response to that stirring call for papers. I suggest that the topic of fic tional minds is an area of study that would benefit from a postclassical perspective, because classical narratology has neglected the whole minds of fictional characters in action. At first sight, this may seem to be an implausible claim. What about the study of free indirect discourse? Interior monologue? Focalization? Reflectoriza tion? Characterization? Actants? My answer is that these concepts do not add up to a complete and coherent study of all aspects of the minds of characters in novels. Put another way, several of the devices that are used in the constructions of fictional minds by narrators and readers, such as the role of thought report in describing emo tions and the role of behavior descriptions in conveying motivation and intention, have yet to be defamiliarized. As Hegel remarks, "What is 'familiarly known' is not properly known, just for the reason that it is 'familiar' " (92). Manfred Jahn refers, in a different context, to "a number of interesting cognitive mechanisms that have

Emergent Narrative in Interactive Media

Abstract: The connections between the concepts of emergence and narrative are manifold, complex and significantly non-obvious, but in one context at least they come together explicitly: the term "emergent narrative" has an established currency in computer game studies as a potential (and desirable) effect of interactive media. Indeed for many it is the holy grail of contemporary computer game design, offering as it does the prospect of reconciliation between the conflicting values of narrative satisfaction and player autonomy. In the academic context of digital media studies, this same promise of synthesis has put emergent narrative in the front line of a longrunning debate between ludologists and narratologists about the relative importance of game and narrative paradigms. My argument here suggests that emergent narrative is not the unifying concept it appears to be for computer game studies, though it does have interesting possibilities in that field; more fundamentally, though, I want to argue that this seemingly very specific concept helps to clarify the incommensurability of emergence and narrative and has implications for our larger understanding of the process of narrative sense making. The discussion begins with an introduction to emergence and some indication of its problematic relation to narrative. I then turn to emergent narrative itself, outlining the history of the concept and some difficulties of definition. I argue that these difficulties arise from confusions about the nature of simulation, and I make a case for understanding narrative and simulation as distinct and, in certain respects, antithetical modes of representation. This view of simulation undermines the narrative status of current notions of emergent narrative, despite the support those notions draw from the field of narrative theory; the argument has im-

Zyklisch-serielle Narration: Erzähltes Erzählen von 1001 Nacht bis zur TV-Serie

Abstract: Cyclical-serial narratives are an anthropological cultural constant. The social circles in one of the central genres of German literature since Goethes "Conversations Among German Emigres" - the framework cycle - tell stories in order to create social identity and counteract death. Using analyses of individual cycles, a comprehensive corpus of the genre is created, and an analysis given of the socio- and mediahistorical preconditions for their widespread reception in the age of almanac culture. In a broad mediahistorical sweep and in the context of an intermedial narratology, the course of 'narrated narrative' is then followed comparatistically from Sherezade and the narrative circles in the literature of the English, German and the Romance languages (Tieck, Hoffmann, Hauff, Brentano, Kleist etc.), via the magazine serial right up to cinema, radio and TV series, above all the soap opera. By focussing on the contents of the frameworks, a need is met from research into the novella, and in the same way the TV series becomes visible in its literary tradition. Narration reveals itself as an anthropological cultural constant, as narration for social identity and against death.