Reviewed by: Contemporary French and Francophone Narratology ed. by John Pier E. Nicole Meyer John Pier, ed. Contemporary French and Francophone Narratology. Ohio State UP, 2020. 237p. John Pier’s collection of diverse essays, written primarily by French colleagues, is designed “to take the pulse of recent developments in narratological research in the French-speaking countries” (1). To best understand narratology’s potential, the volume starts with Raphaël Baroni’s thorough review of past critical approaches, those of classical French narratology. They question various perspectives (e.g., functionalist, objectivist) as well as narrative form, tension, dynamics of plot, suspense, ideology and more. Sylvie Patron emphasizes the importance of reflecting on the history of linguistic and narrative theories in surveying continuing issues of postulating a narrator. She takes us through the terminology and various discussions over time of the no-narrator and optional narrator theories, marking “an important step in the evolution of narrative theory” (51). Pier’s own essay, located in the center, further explores the French perspective toward discourse analysis and narrative theory, considering multiple orientations and frameworks. The tension between langue and parole, and understanding what compromises narrative itself, underlies all of the essays. For me, given this thorough grounding in the pivotal work of [End Page 130] the past, the collection provides a wonderful review of my graduate training; oft-cited predecessors include Roland Barthes, Gerard Genette, Émile Benveniste, Ferdinand de Saussure, Algirdas Julien Greimas, etc. Several English-speaking critics, such as Seymour Chatman, Gerald Prince, and Dorrit Cohn, offer robust mutual and/or self-citation of their own work. While at times this use of mutual and/ or self-citation feels like an inbred process—Claude Calame manages to cite 12 of his own books and articles—the volume’s solid grounding and theorizing on narratology and narrativity provide a wonderful addition to my library and surely that of many others. More important, however, are the interesting viewpoints on the expanding notion of what constitutes narrative and on narrative theory in general. Richard Saint-Gelais’s superbly written essay “Narration Outside Narrative” starts with the arresting statement: “A novel is a narrative; it is also a book” (54). In other words, narration, temporal ordering and other aspects of narrating a story must be considered in the context of the material object. Borders become blurred, inside and outside distinctions prove unclear. Diverse and fascinating examples of what narration can be (including Henck Elsinck’s Murder by Fax’s typographical innovations, as well as a discussion of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and John H.Watson) reveal a “Möbius strip” complexity of both materiality and the enunciation within. Saint-Gervais expands sources to include critics such as Stanley Fish, John R. Searle, and Jean Ricardou as he explores the ambivalent status of interpretation and of its object. Interpreting narrative involves a series of decisions that cause Saint Gervais to propose the notion of parafictionalization (65) in this delightful essay. The volume is impressive in its breadth. Denis Bertrand resorts to the notion of “regimes” of immanence to distinguish narratology and narrativity, while the aforementioned Calame returns to ancient Greek myths as the basis of his discussion. Importantly, several chapters develop narrative discourse beyond standard fictional narrative in fascinating ways. Benoît Hennaut investigates performance and the role of narrator or “postdramatic narrator” in staged productions. Olivier Caïra expands fiction to include interactive digital media—abstract nonmimetic games as well as board and video games. This essay truly encapsulates the “contemporary” component of title and will likely appeal to a large readership due to its expansion not only of narrated [End Page 131] objects, but also of the definition of what constitutes fiction itself. Françoise Revaz’s transmedial approach in “The Poetics of Suspended Narrative” proves quite exciting. The notion of suspended narrative relates to discontinuous reading where the outcome of the narration is delayed. Indeed, the fragmented mode of publication imposes a fascinating temporal and spatial discontinuity which raises questions of continuity, cohesion, fragmentation, and what constitutes a whole. Revaz proposes a consideration of “backward-facing” and “forward-facing” “sutures” that further complicate closure in more traditional narratives. For instance, she mentions Ugo...
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Dec 31, 2023
Shawn Normandin 
Open Access
