Narrative and Narratology 2014.pdf

7/24/2019 Narrative and Narratology 2014.pdf

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Narrative

andNarratology


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Narratology: the study of narrative

structures.

As the study of structures then, it adopts

a formalist approach.

Vladimir Propp (Morphology of theFolktale)was a Russian formalist critic.

Piced up !y the structuralists later on in

the "#$%snarratology a !ranch ofstructuralism.


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&hree parts to the lecture:

rief overview historical development.

&he components of a narrative.

*&he simplest way to define narrative is as a

series of events in a specific order + with a

!eginning, a middle and an end. (ennett

and Royle, $-)

&o ualify the claim that very few aspects of

life are not !ound up with strategies and

effects of narrativeanticipate postmodern

criticism later on in the semester.


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Narratology is *the study of how narratives mae

meaning, and what the !asic mechanisms and

procedures are which are common to all acts ofstory/telling. Narratology, then, is not the reading

and interpretation of individual stories, !ut the

attempt to study the nature of 0story1 itself, as a

concept and as a cultural practice. (arry 2"$)

&o discover the basic mechanisms and procedures

3hich are common to all acts of story/telling. As a cultural practiceplacing, and studying, the

telling of stories within particular historical, political

and cultural conte4ts.


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5istinction !etween *story and *plot&he story is *the actual seuence of events as they happen, whereas the

0plot1 is those events as they are edited, ordered, pacaged, and

presented in what we recognise as a narrative. &his is a crucial distinction

the 0story1 !eing the events as they happen, has to !egin at the !eginning,

of course, and then move chronologically, with nothing left out. &he 0plot1

on the other hand, may well !egin somewhere in the middle of a chain of

events, and may then !actrac, providing us with a 0flash!ac1 which fills

us in on things that happened earlier. &he plot may also have elementswhich flash forward, hinting at events which will happen later. 6o the

0plot1 is a version of the story which should not !e taen literally... (arry

2"$)

7vents that tae place

&he telling, or recollection, of those events.


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Roots in Russian 8ormalism

&wo general approaches to culture and art in Russia in the

early 2%thcentury.

&he formalists an heir to the ideas of the Russian

intelligentsia

9pponents to the ideas of the intelligentsia.

7g. ahntin, who argued that traditional formalist

analysis in the strictest sense tended to !e monological

in its approach.

ntelligentsia: referred to someone who firmly held on to a

particular ideological system.


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6ystems were e4pected to !e determinist,

atheist, and 0scientific1, meaning, systems are

capa!le of e4plaining everything.

&here are certain laws that ena!le the

functioning of the system.

5iscover these laws discover the system

e4plain everything that happens in the system.

&he main !elief here is that laws are fixed,

systems are fixed, and hence deterministic.

;umanist in its !elief that a system can e4plaineverything inside it, can stand outside of its own

historicity, can transcend its own historical

status.


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6ystems themselves are ideologically informed.

;ard and rigid system leaves little room for

contingency.


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&o create a genuine *science of literature.

ect of study, studied !y the

disinterested critic focusing on the *data (or *fact)

!efore him.

3hat is studied is the *literariness of the wor

what maes this o!>ect literary, and therefore

literature. 7g. the language of literaturedistinguish !etween

poetic language, and practical everyday language.

ahtin: in place of a monological approach tolanguage, we need to adopt a dialogic approach

instead.

Another system or structure is narrative.


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arry identifies three historical marer figures in his own story

of narratology:

Aristotle

Vladimir Propp

?@rard ?enette

Aristotle *Aristotle identifies 0character1 and 0action1 as the essential

elements in a story, and says that character must !e revealed

through action, which is to say through aspects of the plot.

(arry 2") &hese are:

the hamartia+ a sin or fault

the anagnorisis+ recognition or realisation (often self/

realisation)

theperipeteia+ turn around or reversal of fortune


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Vladimir Propp:

=haracter is secondary to the action, and character is there

only for *distri!uting the functions around the story. (arry

22")

*...spheres of action (spheres in which the action unfolds, is

carried forward).

&here are seven spheres of action:

&he villain

&he donor (provider)

&he helper

&he princess (a sought/for/person) and her father &he dispatcher

&he hero (seeer or victim)

&he false hero


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*&his potential duplication, then, opens up the Proppian

methods used to analyse relatively simple material, and

!egins to hint at the comple4ities of characterisation and

motivation which form the !asis of psychological, realist

fiction. n realist fiction, the su!ordination of character

to action is reversed, and roles cannot !e simply

demarcated as 0hero1 and 0villain1. (arry 222)

*the Proppian approach seems to hint at the way simple

archetypes from much more basic narrative material

can provide the shadowy deep foundationsof comple4realist fictions + the way, for instance, the =inderella

archetype (a tale found in some form in cultures

worldwide) lies !eneath novels lie Mansfield Park and

Jane Eyre. (arry 222)


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Grard Genette


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8our propositions:

6tories are everywhere

6tories tell us

&he telling of stories is always !ound up in

power, with uestions of authority, ownershipand domination.

6tories have something to tell us a!out storiesthemselves: they involve self/refle4ive and

metafictional dimensions

(adapted from ennett and Rolye, Literature,Criticism and Theory, $2)


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3e come to now our world, to understand our world,through story telling.

;istory, as ;ayden 3hite has pointed out, is a series ofemplotments of events into a narrative. &ime

6etting

=haracter

Plot

&eleological progression (the notion that the *end, ?reetelos)

=ausality (showing how to two events are related to eachother)

3e, as historical su!>ects, are narrative su!>ects.


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ar!ara ;ernstein 6mith argues that our understanding ofnarrative must !e grounded in terms of *someone tellingsomeone else that something happened. (6mith, cited inennett and Royale, $)

Donathan =uller points out that *to tell a story is to claim acertain authority, which listeners grant. (=uller, cited inennett and Royale, $)

Resonates with 6artre on the mutual recognition of

freedom !etween author and reader that gives rise towriting.

ut the teller is not necessarily the author.

&he various levels of *worlds with corresponding tellersBspeaers and their narratorial points of view: &he world of the te4t

&he world outside the te4t

&he world !etween the two


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&he character, trustworthiness and o!>ectivityof the figure who is narrating.

Narrative theory attempts to distinguish

!etween different inds of narrators + firstperson, third person, omniscient narrators,

relia!le or unrealia!le, as well as uestions

concerning point of view.

3ho tells the story !earing on identifying the

ideological assumptions that inform the

telling.


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French Lieutenants oman Eale, white, ritish, and appears to !e from the "#%s.

8or a large part, an omniscient narrator. nterrupts his telling uite often, to correct the reader1s

assumptions, or to draw our attention to his as well as our!iases, and to comment on the process of story/telling andwriting (self/refle4ivity).

;e also admits that he doesn1t in fact now everything. &he implied author/ authorpersona of the te4t, not the

authorperson.

&he storyteller relinuishes control over to the readerthrough.

&he narratorB implied author does not claim to have fullcontrol over the story or his characters.

!hapter "#: an e4position on story/telling, the function ofthe teller, the limitations of the teller1s understandingBnowledge etc.


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!laughterhouse "

An eye/witness account of the 5resden !om!ing. Vonnegut was there, and this is his story of what

happened.

9ne narrator + this is the narrative * introduced to usin the preface, also the implied author of the te4t.

;e is the omniscient narrator of illy1s story. &here are several narrative points of view:

&he fictional world of illy Pilgrim

&he world outside the te4t, which is Vonnegut1s world,

which we assume to have correspondence with thepreface.

&he world !etween the preface.


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&estimonial writing !asically says * was there, saw whathappened, this is my story, it is true !ecause was there.

nformed !y an incredulity towards metanarrative, meaning, apartfrom the claim that * was there there cannot !e any other way to

verify or legitimise the story. t recognises that there are multiple accounts of what happened,

this !eing only one of them.

5ifferent te4ts within the novel appear to !e competing forauthority over 5resden.

&he refusal to lay claim to authoritarian control over 5resden isseen in the narrator1sB implied author1s appearance into illy1snarrative.

A case of *stories telling us: the narrator !ecomes a su!>ect of thestoryB narrative an acnowledgement of his status as a historical(or narrative) su!>ect.

;e can no longer stand outside the story he is telling. &he novel thus demonstrates that narrative is pervasive in its

effects. 7ven a storyteller is not spared from the effects of his ownnarrative.

No one stands outside of narrative or history.


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French Lieutenants oman

&wo stories: =harles

6arah

Plotting: &he plot !egins in the middle uses flash!acs to

7rnestina1s *proposal to =harles and =harles1childhood.

&he plot also !egins in the middle uses flash!acs totrace how 6arah came to !e an outsider.


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!laughterhouse "

&wo stories: Vonnegut (implied author)

illy Pilgrim

Plotting: 8lash!acs and flash forwards

n fact, plotting devices lie flash!acs and flash forwardsare dramatised in the time travel. &he flash!ac is nolonger >ust a plotting device + he literally goes !ac to thepast. =haracteristic of metafictional writing: plotting asnarrative device, which include flash!acs and flashforwards is thematised in the novel as time/travel.


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The #od of !mall Things

&he story: &here are multiple stories

6ophie Eol1s death

Ammu and Velutha1s love story

ndividual storiesB historiesmay or may not conflicteach other.

&he telling: use of flash!acs and flashforwards. Account of

Ammu and Velutha1s love affair is the final chapter of the!oo. 6ignificanceF 3e now that this is not according to the

seuence of events. &he tellingis not the same as the story.


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n a purely practical sense it would pro!a!ly !e correct to say that it all !egan

when 6ophie Eol came to Ayemenem. Perhaps it1s true that things can change in

a day. &hat a few doGen hours can affect the outcome of a whole lifetime. And

that when they do, those few doGen hours, lie the salvaged remains of a !urned

house + the charred cloc, the signed photograph, the scorched furniture + must!e resurrected from the ruins and e4amined. Preserved. Accounted for.


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All stories are interconnectedinterte4tuality.

3e are all products of stories we are historical su!>ects.

&he attempt to trace origins is futile.

5oes not give us a specific date and time, nor a specific event,

compared to the other historical events it cites !efore this.

&here is no e4act origin for the caste system in ndia there

are only theories surrounding the origins of the caste system.

3hat is the significance of origins, or point of originsF ;aving

a point of origin maes it easy to ascri!e reasons for why

things happencause and effect mae it easier to apportion

!lame.

No originswe loo to ourselves to account for what has

happened. &his is supported !y the tellin$ of the story

(emplotment) as well.


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9ur search for originsour desire for purity.

&he idea of the first, the original, and thus the pure.

8ear of contamination of upper caste !y the

untoucha!les !etrays the an4iety of contamination,

of mi4ing.

ahtin criticised traditional stylistics !ecause itinsisted on treating language as a single unitary

system he says language is heteroglossic in nature.

;istory is not a singular unitary systemno single

historical account of any one event history is adiscourse that is heteroglossic there are multiple

accounts, vying for legitimacy, some in conflict with

each other.

s the !asic narrative mode 0mimetic1


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s the !asic narrative mode 0mimetic1

or 0diegetic1F

Eimesis refers to *show/telling or*dramatising.

5iegesis refers to *telling or *relating.


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French Lieutenants oman 5ramatising is taen to its limits in the voyeurism the narrative seems

to imply. Eimetic mode is a truly apt description of the narrative when it

concerns 6arah.

Eimetic mode is e4ploited !y the author to imply, or invite, ourvoyeurism, and conversely, also to enhance 6arah1s impenetra!ility.

&he effect of the reader watching in, spying in, on this far away distantVictorian world.

magery: the woman looing far away into sea, the man at thetelescope.

&he narrative !ecomes this medium through which we access thisother world.

nterte4ts provide another channel or telescope into this other world. 5iegesis: o!vious that there is a telling going on here, and the

narrative shifts !etween the two.

&he diegetic mode !etrays a self/refle4ivity, meaning, the tellerconstantly reminds us that this is a telling + and so we are not to taethe mimetic aspects of the novel too literally.


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!laughterhouse "

ective reality + !ut a highlysu!>ective e4perience that is as much memory andtherefore reconstructed representation, as it is *truth.

&he diegetic mode also suits testimonial writing.

&he telling of the story is itself thematised + self/refle4ivemode of metaficational writing.


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;ow is the narrative focalisedF

Viewpoint or perspective the point of view fromwhich the story is told.

74ternal focalisation: the viewpoint is outside thecharacter depicted, so we are told only thingswhich are e4ternal or o!serva!le + whatcharacters say and do

nternal focalisation: the focus is on whatcharacters thin and feel.

Hero focalisation: no particular point from whichit is told.

&he focaliser would !e the main *point of viewfrom which the narrative is told.


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&he narrative generally moves !etween internal and e4ternalfocalisation.

74ternal focalisation centred on 6arah.

t invites our voyeurism and enhances her mystery.

&he focaliser would argua!ly !e =harles.

;e represents a patriarchal point of view, and readers identify withhim, and in doing so, we go along with him in solving the mystery of6arah, the other who is inaccessi!le to him, !ut also to us.

3e are situated !y the te4t, implicated !y it, in treating her as ano!>ect.

oth strategies of focalisation and dramatisation (show telling)wor together to place the reader in a particular relation to thete4t, and to 6arah.

Eetaficational writing also manipulates the reader.

&he reader and hisB her society are also implicated in upholding

patriarchal ideology.


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!laughterhouse "

The #od of !mall Things!$":/ Eostly e4ternal focalisation

/ 3hyF

/ athos + our e4istence is pretty !anal. &here is nothing speciala!out human !eings. 3e are not the centre of the universe.

The #od of !mall Things:

/


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3ho is telling the storyF

&he disem!odied narrator: the authorial persona,

or implied author.

Narrator who is identified as a distinct, named

character, with a personal history, a gender, asocial/class, position, lies and dislies etc.

&hey have participated in the e4perience and are

*overt or *dramatised or *intrusive narrators. heterodie$etic (not present in the story he tells)

homodie$etic (present in the story he tells).


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Autodie$etic narration: the narrator is the

protagonist in hisB her narrative. 7g. *&he loody

=ham!er !y Angela =arter.

A te4t is homodiegetic if among its story/related

action sentences there are some that contain first/

person pronouns (% did this& % sa' this& this 'as 'hat

happened to me). &he criteria for homodiegeticnarrative: if the narrating is present in the world of

his/her story.

A te4t is heterodiegetic if all story/related action

sentences are third/person sentences (!he did this,

this 'as 'hat happened to him).


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&he fact that homodiegetic narrators refer to

themselves in the first person is not an

a!solutely relia!le criterion for determiningthe relationship !etween the narrator and the

narrative:

(") overt heterodiegetic narrators refer tothemselves in the first person. 8or eg. FL, even

in chapter "-, although the narrator refers to

himself as the *, he is not in the Victorian world

of his story. ut later, when he shares a traincarriage with =harles, then the narrative taes the

form of a homodiegetic narration.

(2) there are some homodiegetic narrators who

refer to themselves in the third person.


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!laughterhouse "FL: egin with a heterodiegetic narratorhomodiegetic narrator.

!$":

egin with a disem!odied narrator

homodiegetic narrator. &he novel thus acnowledges that *stories tell us, meaning, no

one, not even the narrator stands outside of history.

&he traditional omniscient narrator is presumed to stand outsidethe te4t, outside the narrative, and have, precisely, an all/seeing,?od/lie perspective

Postmodern writing: no longer conceive of an *omniscientnarrator, with a ?od/lie perspective who stands outside.

Recognises the historical em!eddedness of all su!>ects, includingthe narrator, or teller.


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;ow is the story 0pacaged1F *8rame narratives (also called 0primary narratives)N9&

em!edded in any other narrative.

*7m!edded narratives (also called secondary narratives)usuallythe main narrative.

Narrative further em!edded into the secondary narrativethirddegree narrative.

FL:

Primary narrative: =harles and 7rnestina

6econdary narrative: &he story of 6arahthe title of the novel

&hird degree narrativesF &he !oo ?rogan gives =harles to read (chapter 2J)

=harles is the officer 6arah is the girl who, *in order to attain adesired end, Kis willing toL inflict pain upon herself. (=hapter 2J)


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!$":

&he frame narrative in this case, is also the paratext / the

preface.

Parate4t refers to material that frames the main te4t.

Parate4ts affect the interpretation of the main te4t.

=laims this is an eyewitness account of 5resden: we read withthe notion in mind that illy1s story is a representation of the

narrator1s traumatic war e4perience in 5resden.

&his leads us to a possi!le interpretation that illy1s time

travelling as well as his alien a!duction are symptoms of

trauma.

Are there more narratives em!edded within the secondary

narrativeF &old !y whomF 3hat is the relationship !etween

these smaller narratives and the othersF

; i ti h dl d i th t F


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;ow is time handled in the storyF

8lash!acs (analeptic details) and flashforwards (proleptic

details).

&reated in a literal way in !$", in illy1s time travel.

An instance of how metafiction thematises the process of

writing, or telling.

?enerally two narrative tenses: narrative present and

narrative past.

&he current point in time in *plot time: the narratorMs

N93.

&he current point in time in *story time: usually, a

characterMs N93.


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FL:

&wo narrative presents:

&he heterodiegetic narrator1s, which is the"#%s.

&he characters1, which is the "J-%s.

=onflation of the two later on:

6ignificanceF Perhaps the narrator is as much

a su!>ect of the Victorian pre>udices and!iases that he had previously moced and

criticised.

;ow are speech and thought


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;ow are speech and thoughtrepresentedF

arry, page 2-%:

0 have to go1, said to her. (Eimetic speech)

told her had to go. (&ransposed speech)

informed her that it was necessary for me to leave. (Narratised

speech)

&he last of these *converts living speech into narrated event, and

interposes the ma4imum distance !etween the reader and the

direct impact and tone of the spoen words. (arry 2-")

&o what effectF

3hy is it used at this point in the narrative to create distanceF

3hich characters are involved at this pointF


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The #od of !mall Things

(for tutorial discussion)

=ompare opening and closing chapters.

9pening chapter in the diegetic mode.

=losing chapter largely in the mimetic mode. 3hat is the treatment of time in !oth

chapters lieF 3hat a!out speech

representationF

6ignificance of your o!servationsF %&'P()'

%*+: as- yourself so what0, which you

must be able to provide an answer for.


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=hapter: *&he ;istory ;ouse

*&he ;istory ;ouse, which gives an account of Velutha1s

!eating

largely mimetic

e4ternal focalisation (discuss various points of view)

3hyF 7ffectF

5o identify conte4t first of all. 3hat is happening hereF 3ho

are involvedF

3hat does this chapter tell us a!out historyF ;ow is this narrative pacagedF s there a frame narrativeF

6econdary narrativeF

3hat a!out treatment of timeF

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Narrative and Narratology 2014.pdf