Story Structure Research Articles

The Face of the Future: An Affective Mental Time Traveler in Saul Bellow’s “A Father-to-Be”

ABSTRACT This article focuses on a future-oriented Janus face portrayed in Saul Bellow’s short story “A Father-to-Be,” arguing that it builds an exceptional prospective fictional mind in Bellow’s writing with a great emphasis on emotion. Drawing on the “Janus hypothesis,” the article examines how the protagonist’s emotional and imaginative mind interprets the past and processes the present based on a gloomy anticipation of the future, while some previous literary studies on the memory-imagination cognition emphasize the imaginativeness of memory. Affective narratology is largely involved as the supportive explanatory framework in the analysis of the narrative style. The authors approach the structure of the entire story by regarding it as an emotion story and attempt to reveal the aesthetic value of its core narrative by taking emotion both as the force of character forming and as rhetoric.

Indices of oral and written narratives differentiating Mandarin-speaking school-age children with and without developmental language disorder

Little evidence has been reported for narrative-related difficulties for Chinese Mandarin-speaking school-age children with developmental language disorder (DLD). This study aimed to capture the indices from narratives that can differentiate Chinese children with and without DLD. Oral narrative and written narrative samples were collected from children with DLD ( Mage = 8.37, SD = 1.25; N = 26) and typically developing (TD) children ( Mage = 8.46, SD = 1.28; N = 26). The narrative samples were compared on a series of indices of narratives in both oral and written narratives. Results showed that at the macrostructure, Mandarin Chinese-speaking school-age children with DLD lagged behind TD children in story structures; at the microstructure, children with DLD had weaker performance in story productivity, lexical diversity, and syntax diversity. Moreover, less group difference was found in the written modality relative to the oral modality. The results suggest indices of story productivity, lexical diversity, and syntactic complexity could be potential linguistic markers in the assessment of school-age Mandarin-speaking children with DLD. The present findings advance our understanding of deficits in narratives for Mandarin-speaking children.

Miyazaki's Hybrid Worlds and Their Riddle-Stories

<p>“Fairy tales begin with conflict because we all begin our lives with conflict,” famously states Jack Zipes. And yet, this statement does not always seem to apply to non-Western story structures, such as the Asian kishōtenketsu, which implies a story development that does not necessarily revolve around conflicts. In many of Hayao Miyazaki’s movies (e.g., My Neighbor Totoro; Spirited Away, The Secret World of Arietty), it is possible to detect, on the one hand, the kishōtenketsu-based plot, and,on the other hand, the widespread presence of Western fairy-tale tropes. Conflicts in traditional Western fairy tales may sometimes manifest in the form of riddles to solve. Although Miyazaki’s stories do not shun away from riddles, how do these riddles relate to conflicts? How are Western and Asian story structures bound together in Miyazaki’s narratives, and what effects does this hybridization generate in their audiences? This article argues that: 1.) Riddles based on Western fairy tales in Miyazaki’s work do not necessarily involve conflicts, and are recast and re-elaborated in highly unusual ways; and 2.) The employment of these unusual patterns, mixing up together Oriental and Occidental frames of reference, gives rise to stories that puzzle the mind of spectators, working as complex narrative riddles.</p>

Malang Mask Puppet Aesthetic Revitalization Entitled "Sodo Lanang Competition"

This research aims to revitalize the mask puppet show titled “Sayembara Sada Lanang” performed by the Malang mask puppet artist group at the Asmorobangun hermitage. The traditional Malang mask puppet show has been staged for quite a long time, 2 - 3 hours. During performances, puppeteers rely on memory skills and perform verbally or directly without using a written script, thus the length of the performance depends on the puppeteer. This research follows a qualitative approach, utilizing observation, interviews, and document analysis as research methods. The research findings reveal that the revitalization of the “Sayembara Sada Lanang” mask puppet performance involved reducing its duration from 2 to 3 hours to just 7 minutes. The revitalization carried out is a revitalization of local wisdom which seeks to reintroduce traditional culture to the general public, especially children. So that children get to know traditional cultures that are almost extinct. The duration of the show is 7 minutes by reconstructing the structure of the show, without changing the essence of the story. The The play’s story structure unfolds in stages, beginning with exposition, followed by complication, climax, and resolution. Additionally, the title features three types of characters: protagonist, antagonist, and tritagonist. Keywords: revitalization, aesthetics, wayang mask

Ancient Indian Stories in the Oirat Collection “The Tale of the Nectar Teaching

Questions about the similarity of the plots of Oirat written monuments with ancient Indian ones still remain insufficiently studied. Most of the Oirat works have not yet been introduced into scientific circulation or translated into Russian and other European languages. The article examines the origin of the plots of 17th and 18th century Oirat religious and didactic collection. “Aršān nomiyin tuuǰi” (“The Tale of the Nectar Teaching”), dating back to the literary monuments of Ancient India. The collection consists of sixty-four short Buddhist stories. It is framed by a diagram of the Tibetan Buddhist treatise “Lamrim,” presented in thesis form. The main provisions of the treatise are revealed in the collection with the help of artistic examples from various Indian and Tibetian sources. The collection is distinguished by a strict functional purpose; it introduces the laity to the course of Buddhist teachings and instructs them on the path of virtue. It was used by Buddhist monks as a guide in his preaching practice until the beginning of the 20th century. The article examines the structure and content of Oirat and ancient Indian stories in their narrative presentation, identifying similarities and local differences. As a result of the study, it was established that genetically similar plots help to better understand the content of short stories in the Oirat collection, which have lost their essential structural components due to various reasons. The stories of “The Tale of the Nectar Teaching” differ from the source texts by the extreme conciseness of their plots: they lack any descriptions or comparisons, the main focus is exclusively on heroes’ actions, the action unfolds abruptly and dynamically. We noted a significant similarity between the plots of “The Tale of the Nectar Teaching” and ancient Indian works both at the plot-compositional and at content levels. This fact indicates their genetic relationship. The identification of the local differences in the Oirat collection demonstrates the genesis of the plots of ancient Indian monuments and their fate outside India.

The functions of peripheral combinations of N. M. Karamzin's novella "Natalia, the Boyar's Daughter"

The linguistic description of a literary text involves consideration of its semantic structure, by which, following L. A. Novikov, we understand the system of images of the work and the linguistic means of their embodiment in the author's text. Peripheral combinations play a significant role in the arsenal of artistic techniques of N.M. Karamzin, implemented in sentimental novels, and demonstrate primarily the functions of indicating feelings and states, embellishing speech, author's characterization and poetization of prose text. The subject of the study of the analyzed text of N. M. Karamzin's novella "Natalia, the boyar's daughter" is periphrasis as a special means of creating a semantic structure. The relevance of the work is due to the clarification of the status of the periphrase as an important structural element of the sentimental story. The aim of the work was to clarify the concept of periphrasis in the modern and preceding N. M. Karamzin literary tradition and highlight its functions in the texts of the stories. The methodological basis of the study was the work of Russian linguists of the V. V. Vinogradov school, based on a system-functional approach to the analysis of the language of fiction. The conducted research allowed us to conclude that the periphrasis is the basis of N. M. Karamzin's imagery and implements the functions of speech decoration; characterization, in which the periphrasis contains the author's attitude to the hero; stylistically marked periphrastic combinations serve to separate parts of the story, for example, the author's digression and the main text of the story. The novelty of the research lies in clarifying the functions of the periphrasis as the central means of the semantic structure of the sentimental story. Periphrases are becoming one of the new tools for constructing the semantic structure of a prose work of the emerging aesthetics of sentimentalism. The use of periphrases is included in the concept of reforming the Russian language by introducing elements peculiar to the sentimental style of French salon literature into the text, while generally ordering syntax at the level of a simple and complex sentence.

Seismic Risk Assessment of Built Environment in the Himalayan Foothill City of Dehradun, Uttarakhand

Himalayan foothill city of Dehradun in Uttarakhand state is located in a tectonically active region and is prone to earthquakes. The growth of Dehradun city is analysed using high resolution remote sensing datasets in the current study, with a focus on its vulnerability to seismic risks for single and double storey structures as the city is predominantly made up of low-rise structures. Analysis shows that 10% of urban expansion has occurred in spectral acceleration zones that are vulnerable to double-storey buildings, while 38% of urban expansion has happened in spectral acceleration zones that are vulnerable to single-storey buildings. The proposed land use as per Dehradun Masterplan 2041 is examined with reference to National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) for seismic regulating provisions. It is emphasized that the intended land use is incongruous in areas with higher spectral acceleration zones since it comprises structures with higher occupancy and the amenities required during post-earthquake rehabilitation. On the other hand, the open spaces are more appropriate in these locations, which will lessen susceptibility as the influence of seismic forces can be sufficiently attenuated. The present study, thus highlights the significance of including seismic risk information in urban planning processes in order to ensure resilient cities.

StructGNN: An efficient graph neural network framework for static structural analysis

In the field of structural analysis prediction via supervised learning, neural networks are widely employed. Recent advances in graph neural networks (GNNs) have expanded their capabilities, enabling the prediction of structures with diverse geometries by utilizing graph representations and GNNs' message-passing mechanism. However, conventional message-passing in GNNs doesn't align with structural properties, resulting in inefficient computation and limited generalization to extrapolated datasets. To address this, a novel structural graph representation, incorporating pseudo nodes as rigid diaphragms in each story, alongside an efficient GNN framework called StructGNN is proposed. StructGNN employs an adaptive message-passing mechanism tailored to the structure's story count, enabling seamless transmission of input loading features across the structural graph. Extensive experiments validate the effectiveness of this approach, achieving over 99% accuracy in predicting displacements, bending moments, and shear forces. StructGNN also exhibits strong generalization over non-GNN models, with an average accuracy of 96% on taller, unseen structures. These results highlight StructGNN's potential as a reliable, computationally efficient tool for static structural response prediction, offering promise for addressing challenges associated with dynamic seismic loads in structural analysis.

The heroic character, the neo-liberal productive citizen, and the feminist filmmaker

ABSTRACT I recut an observational documentary about a woman called Bekti into a more conventional hero’s journey for a broadcaster. The hero’s journey narrative requires large obstacles to be overcome by the hero in their search for their ego. In this documentary the obstacle is connecting experimental science with communities with the aim to reduce dengue fever, and the hero’s ‘ego’ is to be an effective communicator. Using the hero’s journey style of narrative reduced the importance of the domestic aspects of Bekti’s life because these scenes did not contribute to overcoming obstacles or finding ego. To explore these changes use feminist critique of the influence of the hero’s journey on narrative structure and character creation. Alongside this, I use a decolonising lens to challenge the universality of the monomyth. I then bring into this debate work on value in the economy to explore how the hero’s journey used in the recut documentary corresponds to neoliberal values. This critique adds to the current debates around heroic characters and story structures in non-fiction films via rethinking story in practice.

Analysis of Focalization: A Case of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”

Modern studies in narratology provide some fine models to study the structure of novels and stories. The modern narratological approaches divide books and stories into story, narrative, and narration. There is also a further division of these units, the focalization of which is very important. Focalization gives the idea of the center of perception, which means who the focalizer is and what is being focalized. The important advancement in this study is that this approach distinguishes between the narrator and the focalizer and states that the narrator is not always the focalizer. The Grapes of Wrath is one of John Steinbeck's best novels, and it won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Not getting your story straight: queering heroes’ journeys and heteronormative timelines

ABSTRACT As with many popular texts promising templates for successful storytelling, The Writer’s Journey claims that a singular story structure applies to all voices and circumstances, therefore funnelling every character journey into a ‘universal neutral’. This article offers queer temporality as a lens through which to unravel the 12 steps of Vogler’s hero’s journey, informed by queer theory’s critiques of the 8 steps of the heteronormative life journey . It joins other studies critiquing the paradigm from other standpoints, including Indigenous screen storytelling, gaming and interactive narratives, and for development of characters disenfranchised by gender and/or circumstance. Others note the model’s increasing irrelevance as writers uncover its limitations for creative processes of story development. This article homes in on how studies of queer temporalities – rejecting ‘dominant temporal logics’ and ‘chrononormativity’, replacing ‘straight time’ with ‘queer time’, can further destabilise the hero’s journey’s dominance in story development by exploring the breadth of practices in creative writing and screen production beyond the universalising models.

Finding the self in role-playing games: Weaving myth, narrative, and identity

ABSTRACT This article discusses the limitations of hero’s journey by Joseph Campbell with reference to traditional storytelling, offering examples from role-playing games (RPGs) as alternative modes of engagement with symbolism and archetypes. The hero’s journey represents the development of the individual to maturity as a result of confrontation with their unconscious shadow side. While this trajectory reflects the human experience, it centers an idealized young male hero who becomes singularly important to saving the world from a villainized monstrous other. Other characters in the story are marginalized and decentered, invalidating other important archetypal characters such as the Heroine, the Mother, the Witch, the Trickster, the Sage, and the Divine. This article will discuss the ways in which analog RPG narratives can offer the general benefits of active, mythic, and ironic imagination. Integrating ethnographic interviews with 4 experts in the field, the article outlines critiques of the hero’s journey and discusses the wide variety of archetypes explorable within these alternative story structures, even in traditional role-playing games (RPGs) such as Dungeons & Dragons. The article will emphasize how players can use these experiences to shape their own narrative identity into more empowering structures of belief and life roadmaps regardless of the type of character they embody.

Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author’s Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development, K. M. Weiland (2016)

Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author’s Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development, K. M. Weiland (2016)

Küresel Rekabette Tabii'nin Potansiyel Yeri: Hikâye Yapıları Bize Ne Söyler?

This article focuses on TRT's (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) digital platform called "Tabii," which was launched in 2023. Tabii is a platform constructed with state support during a time when it is becoming progressively challenging to individually counter global content monopolies such as Netflix and Disney. Tabii embraces a kind of eastern tradition and internalizes the values of Turkish Islamic thought under the slogan of "stories that unite us." With this approach, Tabii seeks to challenge the previously established and dominant digital platforms or create an alternative space. It is evident that such an endeavor is quite challenging.
 In this research, focusing on loglines and story structures, the themes and character depth of the series are evaluated. For the purpose of sampling, the 10 most-watched series on the Tabii platform were selected, and their story structures and themes were subjected to structural analysis. In conclusion of this analysis, while Tabii's targeted broadcasting approach and advocated human values are deemed significant, the narrative sentences and story structures employed for their conveyance have been found to be weak. Hence, this article highlights the importance of Tabii platform in the context of communication and content creation in the digital world, emphasizing the potential for conveying their messages more effectively with stronger story structures.

Ukrainiečių pasakojimai apie karo pradžią: svarbiausios temos, struktūra, kompozicija

The article aims to consider the main themes and structures of autobiographical narratives by the Ukrainian people about the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war. It analyses narratives of life events becoming the elements of storytelling about the beginning of the war. The article focuses mainly on the plot structure of stories about the war’s outbreak, and the narrators’ self-presentation strategies. Folklore tools reveal typical plots of autobiographical narratives about the outbreak of war. The symbolic meanings of oral histories attributed in modern Ukrainian culture to various events, people and things are considered. Methods of structural narratology have proven to be advantageous in this research. Autobiographical narratives concerning the outbreak of the war coincide with the five criteria of the eventfulness level by Wolf Schmid: relevance, unpredictability, persistence, irreversibility and non-iterativity. The predominant motifs under consideration include reports regarding the beginning of the war, leaving one’s home, seeking refuge in shelters, undergoing evacuation, contemplating the causes of the war, predicting the war, and reflecting on the cruel nature of warfare.

Podręczniki do TRPG: między użytkowością a literackością

This article discusses different research approaches to the literariness of narrative role-playing game manuals. Considering the nature of the manual, this research is specifically concerned with game scripts, ranging from their evolution as a literary genre through their story structure. Some researchers argue that game scripts can be deemed a new literary genre, while others treat them as game manuals. According to another approach, the entire manual for the narrative role-playing game is a literary work. The author believes that regardless of certain literary elements, these manuals have a primarily utilitarian function. The literariness goes beyond the textbook and begins with the game session.

Zlom v životnom príbehu človeka

The paper presents theoretical-research background for the possible creation of a life story of a person in the senior age. The paper presents a possible structure of a life story and also different alternatives of collecting information for its creation. The paper itself is complemented by authentic accounts of participants for whom a life story depicting breakthrough events was created as part of the data collection. Each life story recorded as part of the pedagogical-artistic experiment can be addressed in terms of external and internal breakthrough, which also corresponds to the attributes of breakthrough in the action itself within action art.

『源氏物語』における「宿世」による 構造化の方法

The three prophecies that tell the story of Hikaru Genji’s destiny in The Tale of Genji come true thanks to his relationship with Fujitsubo and the Akashi clan, but the realization of these prophecies is inseparably connected to the consciousness of the sukuse (destiny). This article examines how the word sukuse participates in the history of Fujitsubo and the Akashi clans, and how it carries over to the history of Hikaru Genji, deciphering the context. This article is an attempt to decipher the structure of the grand story of Hikaru Genji’s rise to fame realized through his relationship with the princess, using the word sukuse as a clue.

Towards a Deeper Understanding Narrative Structure, Visions, and Form of the Short Story in Arabic Literature

Towards a Deeper Understanding Narrative Structure, Visions, and Form of the Short Story in Arabic Literature

A SHORT STORY OF "HUKUMAN TERBAIK (THE BEST PUNISHMENT)" BY DYAH WAHYUNINGSIH: A STRUCTURALISM STUDY

"Hukuman Terbaik" by Dyah Wahyuningsih is a short story that contains social criticism of the rampant betrayal that begins with a struggle. The purpose of this research is to describe the intrinsic structure and genetic structure of the short story "Hukuman Terbaik" by Dyah Wahyuningsih. This research was conducted using descriptive qualitative research method with the help of structuralism study approach. The findings show that structurally the short story "Hukuman Terbaik" has complete intrinsic elements such as theme, character and characterisation, plot, setting, time setting, social setting, and point of view. Meanwhile, the genetic structure found is such as humanitarian facts and the author's worldview. The human facts in this short story illustrate the social reality between Samiran and other additional characters that build strength in conveying the current state of life of Samiran. The author's worldview focuses on criticism of the reality, according to which the depiction of punishment through dialogue or expressions delivered is ultimately to convey the appropriate punishment for a traitor. Keywords: Short story, structuralism-genetics, betrayal, punishment.