What is Narratology Key terms? Sourcewww.narrati.com NARRATIVE What is Narrative ?

Narratology is a term coined in French, narratologie, by Tzvetan Todorov in his book Grammaire du Dcamron. Narratology is the study of narrative, narrative structure and the way they affect our perception. It provides terms and concepts for the discussion of narrative and narration. Narrative is the art, technique, or process of telling a story Story An account or a recital of an event or a series of events, either true or fictitious. Story refers to the actual chronological sequence of events as they actually occurred in the time-space universe of the narrative. Stories are rarely recounted in strict chronological sequence; they often begin in the middle to create dramatic effect. Narrative quite often reworks discursively the simple chronology of its story. Context and background are added later. Literary devices are used to augment complexity and drama thus creating a plot. Narration Narration refers to the act of transmitting a story. Discourse Discourse refers to the manner that story is presented. It refers to all the material an author or teller adds to a story: similes, metaphors, verse or prose, etc. In film, framing, cutting, camera movement, camera angles, music, etc. can be considered. Narrator A narrator is voice that tells a story. The narrator has definite attributes and limitations that are crucial for the way the story is perceived by the reader. The most important aspect of the narrator is the pointof-view from which the story is told. Point-of-view consists of corporal form, physical position, bias and grammatical stance. Diegesis Diegesis is the telling of the story. A narrator describes events in the narrative, addressing the audience directly describing events and the state of mind and emotions of the characters. Diegesis includes the entire temporal and spatial context of the story.

Mimesis Mimesis to the showing of a story. An omniscient incorporeal entity reveals the setting and events but a character's inner thoughts and emotions are shown only through external actions. Continuity Continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events as perceived by the reader or viewer. Verisimilitude Verisimilitude refers to the extent to which the characters and actions in a narrative conform to our sense of reality. A story with a high degree of verisimilitude is very realistic and believable; it is Said to be "true to life." Verisimilitude can be created by the specific forms of narration such as: A False Document is a form of narrative that presents a story as a record in some nonexistent document. This form of narration is used to create a sense of authenticity beyond the normally expected suspension of disbelief in the reader. It can also be used to put a certain distance between a text and its author. Metafiction is a form of narration that deliberately denies the suspension of disbelief in order to constantly remind the reader that they are reading a book. Suspension of disbelief In order to enter the world of the story, a reader or viewer must be willing to override the need for scientific or logical rectitude and ignore minor inconsistencies. A reader or viewer must suspend disbelief and accept a story's diegesis. Breaking the fourth wall The fourth wall is the imaginary invisible wall at the front of the stage in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action of the play. Although it originated in theatre, the term has been adopted by other media, such as cinema, television and literature, to refer to the boundary between the fiction and the audience. Through suspension of disbelief an audience will accept the presence of the fourth wall, allowing them to enjoy the fiction as if they were observing real events.

ARRATOLOGY EXAMINES THE WAYS that narrative structures our perception of both cultural artifacts and the world around us. The study of narrative is particularly important since our ordering of time and space in narrative forms constitutes one of the primary ways we construct meaning in general. As Hayden White puts it, "far from being one code among many that a culture may utilize for endowing experience with meaning, narrative is a meta-code, a human universal on the basis of which transcultural messages about the nature of a shared reality can be transmitted" (Content 1). Given the prevalence and importance of narrative media in our lives (television, film, fiction), narratology is also a useful foundation to have before one begins analyzing popular culture. The pages in the narratology site therefore attempt to introduce important theorists of narrative and the basic terms needed to explain both fiction and film. Narratology is complicated by the fact that different theorists have different terms for explaining the same phenomenon, a fact that is fueled by narratology's structuralist background: narratologists love to categorize and to taxonomize, which has led to a plethora of terms to explain the complicated nature of narrative form. In this site, I have attempted to present those terms that seem to me the least confusing in describing how narrative functions. My goal has been to provide a basic foundation, one that should help you then tackle the works of individual narratologists. As in the other sections of this Guide to Theory, I here also provide Modules on individual theorists in order to give a somewhat more detailed introduction to a few influential figures. The links on the left will lead you to Modules explaining in more detail specific concepts by these individual thinkers; however, you might like to begin with a quick overview: Felluga, Dino. "General Introduction to Narratology." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory.[date of last update, which you can find on the home page]. Purdue U. [date you accessed the site]. <http://www.purdue.edu/guidetotheory/narratology/modules/introduction.html>.
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