Handbook of Narrative Analysis by Luc Herman, Bart Vervaeck

Abstract

1074 Reviews significantly affect the overall argument. In his bid tomove away from the 'cultural ist'method of reading, occasionally Clark lapses into a knee-jerk reaction rather than a considered response. For instance, the claim of 'institutional Americanism' in the first chapter is unnecessary and does little to aid the argument. His point about the dominance of contextual reading-which omits the 'singularity' of a text-is indeed valid, but the link to the American academy is overstated and seems precisely the kind of contextualizing thought (albeit applied to critical theory rather than litera ture) against which Clark argues: it is like calling Derrida and Blanchot 'French' theorists, thereby omitting their 'singularity'. This said, however, The Poetics of Singularity is an important text that deserves to be given careful consideration. As he correctly observes in his epilogue, there is a counter-book here that would interpret the four theorists in their socio-historical context, but this would miss much of the flavour of their writings and would not have produced what must be the most important line in the book: 'Natality is thus the essence of education and the art of teaching' (p. i6o). Clark's challenge to teachers is to instil an appreciation of literature's singularity in students, contrary to the reduc tive use of theory asmerely a filter for the literary interpretation. Fresh readings of old theorists and important arguments on the future direction of critical theory aside, this book isworthwhile merely for that sense of literary appreciation. UNIVERSITY OF WALES, ABERYSTWYTH WILL SLOCOMBE Handbook of Narrative Analysis. By Luc HERMAN and BARTVERVAECK. (Frontiers of Narrative) Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 2005. X+ 23I pp. 1i6.95. ISBN o-8032-7349-5. This volume provides a detailed overview of the main currents in narratology, from the theoretical discussions of literary form by E. M. Forster to thework of well-known contemporary literary critics such asGerard Genette andMieke Bal. The authors also examine what they define as 'post-classical narratology', which broadly encompasses post-structuralist readings of narrative that are less reliant on abstract theoretical models, and bring ideology, the reader, gender issues, and wider culture into consi deration. The authors are careful not to champion any theory in particular, nor do they seek to find a coherent and all-encompassing model for studying narratives, al though one does detect a certain nostalgia for classical narratology with itsmore rigid methodologies and structural models. However, the methodology adopted in this study is slightly problematic: two appended short stories, one by Charlotte Mutsaers and the other by Gerrit Krol, are used to illustrate awide variety of narratological methods, yet the authors fail to acknowledge that short fiction often requires a set of interpretative tools different from those used in the analysis of longer narratives. Chapter i consists of an extremely useful introduction to the emergence of key narratological terms and their practical application. Six main areas are covered: story and plot, telling and showing, author and narrator, narrator and reader, consciousness and speech, and perception and speech. Chapter 2 focuses on the emergence of struc turalism and its influence on contemporary narratology. This chapter also reveals the tangle of different terms that are used by various narratologists for 'story', 'narrative', and 'narration'. While structuralist narratology endeavoured to construct a vocabu lary for literary critics to use in their analysis, this often disintegrated into a plethora of abstract terms that were in fact unique to each narratologist and his or her par ticular method. Similarly, narratological models that have been formulated through a discussion of a specific author's work, e.g. Genette's meticulous analysis of Flaubert and Proust, may not always be applied easily to other narratives. Nevertheless, as Luc MLR, I0I.4, 2006 I075 Herman and Bart Vervaeck observe, one of the most important arguments in favour of structuralist narratology is that it encourages the literary critic to 'describe the workings of the narrative more satisfactorily' (p. iOO) and thus delve deeper into the relationship between form and content. In this respect, students of literary criticism still have much to learn from classical narratology. On the other hand, readings that are too formalistic can lead to a...