Narratology

Mediating between God and Man: Towards a Poetics of Sacred Discourse

by Karen Bennett

Máthesis, Vol. 11, Universidade Católica Editora, 2002. 109-123

This article offers a response to Meir Sternberg’s 1987 work The Poetics of Biblical Narrative, which uses techniques... more This article offers a response to Meir Sternberg’s 1987 work The Poetics of Biblical Narrative, which uses techniques drawn from narratology in order to read the Bible as a work of Literature. It argues that the Bible was produced within a mindset that was very different from that underlying the 19th century and modernist novels that are usually the target of such approaches, and that if this is taken into consideration, all presuppositions about narrator/narratee and discourse take on an altogether different aspect.  The aim of the paper, therefore, is to explore the possibilities of a distinct mode of discourse based upon the notion of the sacred, and to suggest directions in which an eventual poetics of sacred discourse might lead.

Discourses of Remembering: the Construction of Recollections in “Travels in West Africa”

by Karen Bennett

In Literature and Memory, Ansgar Nünning, Marion Gymnich, Roy Sommer (Eds.), Tübingen: Narr Francke Verlag, 2006. 281-291

Mary Kingsley’s Travels in West Africa, first published in 1887, is a book constructed out of memories. It was... more Mary Kingsley’s Travels in West Africa, first published in 1887, is a book constructed out of memories. It was published following the author’s return from two amazing lone voyages to the Congo and Camaroon, and although is vaguely categorised today as ‘Travel Writing’, it was not originally conceived as a coherent unified whole. Instead, it was patched together from a series of different texts, some of which were possibly written in situ (notebook jottings), others during moments of reflection in Africa (diary entries and letters), and yet others upon the author’s return to England (extracts from the lectures that she gave to institutions as diverse as the Cheltenham Ladies College, Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the Royal Geographical Society). Consequently, the final product bears traces of many different narrative voices. This paper examines the ways in which distance (temporal, geographical and social) conditions Kingsley’s memories of Africa. It looks at how those memories are construed in the various discourses according to the degree of elaboration demanded by the conventions governing each one, and focuses on the way in which the construction of identity (of the Self and Other) is affected by the implied presence of particular narratees.

Beyond Other Minds: Fictional Character, Mental Simulation, and "Unnatural" Experiences

by Marco Caracciolo

To appear in Journal of Narrative Theory

My essay joins the contemporary cognitive-narratological debate on whether readers bring to bear on fictional... more My essay joins the contemporary cognitive-narratological debate on whether readers bring to bear on fictional characters the folk psychology that they apply to real people. While arguing for a continuity in readers’ engagement with real and fictional minds, I point out that some literary techniques harness our imaginative, empathic skills to a greater degree than is likely in real life. Specifically, internally focalized texts encourage readers to simulate characters’ experiences in a first-person way, going beyond our usual second- or third-person stance towards other minds. This can create the illusion that we penetrate more deeply into the mental life of characters than we could ever penetrate into that of real people. In the second part of the essay, I use a short story by Julio Cortázar as case study for arguing that readers’ first-person involvement with characters can also explain the unsettling effect of texts evoking non-ordinary or impossible mental states and experiences. The thrust of this article is that the narratorial function of “authentication” (in Lubomír Doležel’s term) is crucial in creating an empathic bond between readers and characters: since in some situations the narrator’s statements about the mental states of a character cannot be falsified, they are taken to be direct reflections of the character’s experience, thereby inviting readers to adopt an empathic mode of engagement.

La diglosia en la obra narrativa de Fu'âd al-Tekerlî

by Salvador Peña

Published in 'Homenaje al Prof. Darío Cabanelas Rodríguez, O.F.M.', Universidad de Granada, 1987, vol. 1, pp. 111-118.

The switching between Modern Standard Arabic and Colloquial Iraqi Arabic fulfils a definite structural goal in Fuad... more The switching between Modern Standard Arabic and Colloquial Iraqi Arabic fulfils a definite structural goal in Fuad Tekerli’s short tales.

Die ‚grandiose Relativität‘ – Zur Deutung des Todes der Charite (Apul. met. 8,1-14)

by Matthias Stern

Paper from a seminar on Apuleius' "Metamorphoses" held by Dr. Marcus Beck at the Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg in 2010.

Following the research on the tale about Charite‘s death in Apul. met. 8,1-14, one is able to find many and very... more Following the research on the tale about Charite‘s death in Apul. met. 8,1-14, one is able to find many and very different interpretations of its message.

In this paper I made use of a rather constructivist approach in interpreting Apuleius and developed the thesis that the author deliberately confuses his audience and thoroughly refuses to present a message of his tale. Apuleius does so by:
- purposefully loosing the tale‘s connection the rest of the novel,
- s y s t e m a t i c a l l y  establishing discordant or even contradicting pictures of his figures in intra-, extra-, and intertextual ways,
- and also by wittingly undermining the sub-narrator‘s authority.

So, if one is allowed to modify a statement of Fuhrmann‘s about Tacitus, one can allude to the story of Charite‘s death as a tale of ‚profuse relativity‘.

Campion, B. (2010). Etudier la compréhension narrative. Difficultés d’opérationnalisation et usage de l’expérimentation en narratologie cognitive. Présenté à Colloque La narratologie face à la nouvelle dimension sociale des récits, Paris, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS).

by Baptiste Campion

Cet article se veut un essai réflexif sur les méthodologies de recherche en narratologie, et notamment sur leur... more Cet article se veut un essai réflexif sur les méthodologies de recherche en narratologie, et notamment sur leur difficulté à rendre compte, au-delà de modèles spéculatifs, de l'activité du lecteur empirique et de la manière dont le récit provoque effectivement un effet cognitif. Après avoir envisagé les différentes manières de considérer le lecteur dans la littérature, ainsi que les obstacles les plus courants à l'approche empirique, le texte argumente en faveur du développement d'une narratologie empirique d'inspiration expérimentale destinée à investiguer la question de la compréhension et des opérations suscitées par le récit chez le lecteur empirique. Cette démarche est illustrée par une recherche qui a utilisé la quasi-expérimentation pour mettre en lumière certains effets cognitifs de la structure narrative.

Ein Roman in Worten und Bildern. Erkundung der Erzählform von Brian Selznicks "Die Entdeckung des Hugo Cabret"

by Michael Staiger

in: Praxis Deutsch 232/2012, S. 20-25

Eine spannende Geschichte über einen Waisenjungen, einen geheimnisvollen Automatenmenschen und die Frühzeit des Kinos.... more Eine spannende Geschichte über einen Waisenjungen, einen geheimnisvollen Automatenmenschen und die Frühzeit des Kinos. Selznicks Roman flicht ein Netz aus vielfältigen intermedialen Bezügen. Gerade deshalb bietet er einen besonders fruchtbaren Gegenstand, die besondere Erzählform im Wechsel von Worten und Bildern zu reflektieren.

“Towards Multimodal Narratology”

by Grzegorz Maziarczyk

published in Interfaces: Image, Texte, Language 32 (2011-2012):111-125.

Múltiples lectores implícitos

by José Angel García Landa

Publicado en Cuadernos de Investigación Filológica, XXXV-XXXVI (2009-2010), p. 63-75.

This paper reflects on the concept of the implied reader in narrative fiction, with special reference to Walker Gibson... more This paper reflects on the concept of the implied reader in narrative fiction, with special reference to Walker Gibson and Wayne Booth's original conception, and to Brian Richardson's recent work on multiple implied readers. The fuzziness of the concept of the implied reader, and its tendency to multiply, is shown to be related to the diverse interactional and interpretive uses of the texts.


Este artículo reflexiona sobre el concepto de lector implícito en la ficción narrativa, con referencia especial al concepto originario de Walker Gibson y Wayne Booth, y al reciente trabajo de Brian Richardson sobre la multiplicidad de lectores implícitos. Se muestra cómo los límites difusos del concepto de lector implícito, y la tendencia del mismo a multiplicarse, son fenómenos relacionados con los diferentes usos interaccionales y hermenéuticos de los textos.

Interactional particles and narrative voice in Apollonius and Homer

by Martine Cuypers

in Beginning from Apollo: Studies in Apollonius Rhodius and the Argonautic Tradition, eds. M.A. Harder and M. Cuypers. Leuven: Peeters, 2005, 35-69

Review of: Gary Yamasaki, Watching a Biblical Narrative: Point of View in Biblical Exegesis

by Juan Carlos Ossandón

Published in 'Annales Theologici' 22 (2008) 485-486

La tv racconta. Introduzione alle attuali narrazioni televisive

by Lorenzo Denicolai

Published in "Turin Dams Review", 42, 2012

Television has been able to tell the nature, emotions and desires of
viewers. The public, inserted in a sort of... more Television has been able to tell the nature, emotions and desires of
viewers. The public, inserted in a sort of mediality reflective, it is always
identified himself in the actions of TV heroes. Even in television today, even though
in teeming schedules more or less "personal", overlooking the guidelines of a
community and collective narrative, seeking new heroic figures.

Ritual Water, Ritual Geist: An Application of Narratological Analysis to Luke's Development of Christian Initiation from John the Baptist to Pentecost

by David McCollough

This paper employs narratological analysis, especially focalization, the sequential development of entity... more This paper employs narratological analysis, especially focalization, the sequential development of entity representations and intertextuality, to demonstrate that through Luke 3, 11 and Acts 2, Luke prescribes a liminal ritual complex of initiation composed of four elements: repentance, water baptism, prayer and xenolalic experience understood as Spirit reception. The paper briefly explains focalization (the lens through which a narrator looks at something) and entity representations (ERs, the mental construct of a character, motif, procedure, network of relationships, etc., built up lineally through a narrative). It addresses the intertextual role of Isaiah and Malachi in the formation of the initiation ER, and implications of lukan Sinai imagery.
The paper traces the cumulative development of the initiation ER from John the Baptist’s prophecy of Spirit and fire baptism, to Jesus’ baptism, to Jesus’ teaching on prayer for the Spirit, to Pentecost. Luke’s use of priestly imagery is found to color his portrayal of believers. The Pentecost narrative is shown to redundantly focalize the xenolalia experience, and to identify it for the reader as the Spirit experience prophesied by Joel and promised by Jesus, and to prescribe that same xenolalic experience as a boundary marker obtainable through repentance, water baptism and prayer.
The paper will demonstrate that notwithstanding a strong, undeniable vocational role, narratological analysis indicates Luke subordinates Spirit experience under a broader soteriological heading which can be further refined as initiatory with a liminal aspect, thus ecclesiological.

"Intent to Mislead: W.G. Sebald's Notion of Authenticity." Authentisches Erzählen. Produktion, Narration und Rezeption eines Zuschreibungsphänomens. Ed. Antonius Weixler. DeGruyter, forthcoming. 93-108.

by Michael Hutchins

Though Sebald's academic and essayistic writings reveal his intense interest in authenticity, his own literary... more Though Sebald's academic and essayistic writings reveal his intense interest in authenticity, his own literary practice undermines reliability at every stage, placing in question the authenticity of his imaginative works. This essay explores the notion that Sebald's understanding of authenticity is at odds with many contemporary narratological explanations of the term and invites theoretical expansion to account for the phenonmenon of authentication by means of an obvious lie.

Sueños de Mahfuz: lo onírico en la construcción de la novela

by Salvador Peña

Published in 'Anaquel de Estudios Árabes' (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) 4 (1993), pp. 129-148.

"Narrative Empathy"

by Suzanne Keen

"Strategic Empathizing: Techniques of Bounded, Ambassadorial, and Broadcast Narrative Empathy"

by Suzanne Keen

Writing Plot: Suggestions from Narratology

by Rafael Bienia

El concepto semiótico de anclaje y su aplicación al ejemplo XXV de El Conde Lucanor

by Cesar Dominguez

In Asedios ó conto. Eds. Carmen Becerra et al. Vigo: Universidade de Vigo. 1999. pp. 165-171.

"Opera en abyme: The Prodigious Ritual of Korngold's Die tote Stadt," Cambridge Opera Journal 22:2 (2011), 115-46.

by William Cheng