Elements of a Narrative Grammar

Abstract

The widening interest in narrativity studies in recent years parallels the emergence of a general semiotics whose aspirations are becoming increasingly specific. At an early stage, the comparison of the results of research undertaken independently-by V. Propp on folklore [Morphology of the Folktale, tr. C. Scott (Bloomington: Linguistics Center, 1958)], by Claude L6vi-Strauss [Structural Anthropology, tr. C. Jacobson) New York: Basic Books, 1963)] on the structure of myth, by Etienne Souriau [Les Deux cent mille situations dramatiques (Paris: Flammarion, 1950)] on the theatre-made it possible to establish the existence of an autonomous area of inquiry. Later, new methodological investigations, such as that of Claude Bremond interpreting narration from the perspective of decisional logic [Logique du rdcit (Paris: Seuil, 1973)], or that of Alan Dundes seeking to describe the organization of narrative in the form of a narrative grammar [The Morphology of North American Indian Folktales (Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedenkatemia, 1964)], contributed to a diversification of the theoretical approaches. Our own concern, during this period, was both to extend as far as possible the field of application of narrative analysis, and to pursue the formalization of the partial models which had emerged from the ongoing research on narrative [1966a, pp. 192-221]: it seemed important to us to insist first and foremost on the semio-linguistic character of the categories used in the elaboration of these models, so as to ensure their universal applicability and to provide for the integration of narrative structures into a general semiotic theory.