Narrative Theory, 1966-2006: A Narrative

Abstract

Abstract Focalization, prolepsis, analepsis homodiegetic, heterodiegetic, intradiegetic (are we having fun yet?), heteroglossia, the narrative audience, tensions and instabilities, disclosure functions, character zones, fuzzy temporality. Who else is ready to cry, “Hold, enough!”? I begin with this eclectic and incomplete litany of terms introduced by narrative theorists over the last forty years in order, first, to indicate that narrative theory has been advancing on a number of fronts, and, second, to acknowledge that the large Terminological Beastie looming over the field is likely to be intimidating to the nonspecialist. My goal here is to do justice to the advances most relevant to The Nature of Narrative’s focus on literary narrative while keeping the Beastie at bay. Rather than proceeding through an inventory of narratological neologisms or even through an analysis of the interrelations between the history of critical theory and the study of narrative over the last forty years, I shall, in effect, construct a three-part narrative: a big picture account of major trends in the field, followed by a more detailed telling about work on elements of narrative, and then, finally, a brief look at the current scene. More specifically, Part One will (I) consider the expansion of narrative theory’s focus over the past forty years-from literary narrative to narrative tout court-and the implications of that expansion for the study ofliteraiy narrative; and (2) describe three prominent general conceptions of narrative during this period: narrative as formal sys­tem, narrative as ideological instrument, and narrative as rhetoric. These conceptions authorize different theoretical and interpretive projects, though both the conceptions and the projects also overlap and influence each other at times. In a sense, this discussion will be an update of Scholes and Kellogg’s chapter on Meaning. Part Two will then consider how these conceptions of narrative have influ­enced work on the three elements of narrative treated by Scholes and Kellogg: plot, character, and point of view-a topic I will modify to the broader category of narrative discourse. Part Three will briefly sketch some especially significant issues being addressed in cur­rent narrative theory.