Narrative and Space/Time

Abstract

This chapter argues for a constitutive, performative role for space/time orientation in narrative, showing that it is not enough to think of space/time orientation as a backdrop for the action, but rather that it frequently perhaps always is the action. It suggests that, while the analysis of narrative is indeed well-trodden ground, there remain unexplored, unexamined aspects of narrative as a result of particular theoretical biases that have been current and unquestioned since the time of Aristotle. Arguments for the centrality of space in oral narrative have been made in Baynham and De Fina and in a series of papers published in the journal Narrative Inquiry. The chapter draws on the arguments from these papers along with the commentary on them provided by Stef Slembrouck. The narrative of sociolinguistic fieldwork, making over and appropriating space in time, exemplifies the connection between space/time, performativity, narrative action, and identity work.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 33 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.