Introduction to Narrative Theory

Prof. Elana Gomel

Description:

We live our lives surrounded by stories. Novels, movies, video games, and newscasts are narratives, and so are biographies and autobiographies. The concept of narrative is crucial not only to literature but also to psychology, history, legal and political science.

In this course we will learn about the basic and fundamental concepts of narrative theory, such as author, reader, plot, setting, character, and point of view. We will study the classic narratological theories of Boris Tomashevsky, Gerard Genette, Seymour Chatman and others. But we will also discuss the recent and exciting innovations in narrative theory, connected to the rise of the Internet, the changing media landscape, and the influence of cognitive and evolutionary science. The aim of the course is to equip you with the necessary analytical tools for understanding both literary and non-literary narratives.

Goals:

1. Familiarity with major theoretical approaches to narrative.
2. Ability to apply the theoretical tools provided by the course to a variety of narrative texts.
3. Independent and creative thinking about narrative.

    

    

   Online Resources:         

   OSU Project Narrative https://projectnarrative.osu.edu/

   The Living Handbook of Narratology [LH]

   http://www.lhn.uni-hamburg.de/

Manfred Jahn Narratology: A Guide to the Theory of Narrative