Narrative theory: core concepts and critical debates

Abstract

As rhetorical narrative theorists, we look at narrative primarily as a rhetorical act rather than as an object.That is, we see it as a purposive communication of a certain kind from one person (or group of persons) to one or more others.More specifically, our default starting point is the following skeletal definition: Narrative is somebody telling somebody else, on some occasion, and for some purposes, that something happened to someone or something.every part of this definition after "is" deserves further commentary-and we will provide such commentary in the following chapters.Before we do so, however, we'd like to start out by identifying six main principles that underlie our approach.1. Narrative is often treated as a representation of a linked sequence of events, but we subsume that traditional viewpoint under a broader conception of narrative as itself an event-more specifically, a multidimensional purposive communication from a teller to an audience.The focus on narrative as purposive means that we are interested in the ways in which the elements of any narrative (e.g., character, setting, plot structure) are shaped in the service of larger ends.The focus on narrative as multileveled communication means that we are interested not simply in the meaning of narrative but also in the experience of it.Thus, we are as concerned with narrative's affective, ethical, and aesthetic effects-and with their interactions-as we are with its thematic meanings.

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