Past and Present of Present-tense Narration

Abstract

This chapter provides a concise discussion of the historical development of present-tense narration against the background of which contemporary developments have to be understood. It goes on to identify four main types of contemporary present-tense narration, which will be discussed and illustrated by examples in the following chapters. They are narrative deictic, retrospective and simultaneous narration and interior monologue. The discussion in each of the following chapters in turn considers the use of these types of present-tense narration in the case of first-person, figural and authorial narratives, since each narrative situation entails different challenges and potentials for present-tense narration.