About the Book
The past several decades have seen an explosion of interest in narrative, with this multifaceted object of inquiry becoming a central concern in a wide range of disciplinary fields and research contexts. As accounts of what happened to particular people in particular circumstances and with specific consequences, stories have come to be viewed as a basic human strategy for coming to terms with time, process, and change.
However, the very predominance of narrative as a focus of interest across multiple disciplines makes it imperative for scholars, teachers, and students to have access to a comprehensive reference resource.
Table of Contents:
A-B
actant; action theory; adaptation; address; addresser and addressee; adolescent narrative; advertisements; African narrative; agency; allegory; alteration; alterity; anachrony; analepsis; ancient theories of narrative (Western); ancient theories of narrative (non-Western); anecdote; animated film; annals; anti-narrative; apology; archetypal patterns; architext; Artificial Intelligence and narrative; atomic and molecular narratives; attributive discourse; audience; Australian Aboriginal narrative; authentication; author; authorial narrative situation; autobiography; autodiegetic narration; autofiction; backstory; ballad; Biblical narrative; Bildungsroman; biography; biological foundations of narrative; blog (weblog)
About the Author :
David Herman teaches in the Department of English at Ohio State University. He has published several studies in the field, including The Cambridge Companion to Narrative, Narrative Theory and the Cognitive Sciences, Story Logic, and Narratologies.
Manfred Jahn is based at the University of Cologne in Germany and has published articles on focalization, represented speech and thought, and cognitive narratology in venues such as the Journal of Pragmatics, Poetics Today, Style, and Narratologies. He has also authored a widely used online guide to narratology and narrative theory, freely available at .
Marie-Laure Ryan is an independent scholar and a former recipient of NEH and Guggenheim Fellowships. She has published widely in the areas of narrative theory, electronic textuality, and media studies. Her most recent studies include Narrative across Media and Avatars of Story.
Review :
'Potentially daunting, this complex subject is made a snap by clever arrangements for entries: five different types, from mini-essay to thumbnail definition, all cross-indexed. The helpful navigational aids include coded typeface, a thematically-organized reader's guide, and an excellent comprehensive index. Thorough, accessible, and remarkably free of obfuscating language. Highly recommended.'
- Choice
"[T]his impressive reference demonstrates the broad application and meanings associated with the notion of narrative from its first theoretical use by French structuralists in the 1960s to contemporary cross-disciplinary uses, as in narrative medicine. None of the entries [is] devoted to a theorist, rather, they grapple with concepts, approaches, genres, technical terms, and ideas. Longer entries are included for major concepts, as for example, action theory, Biblical narrative, cognitive narratology, mimesis, queer theory, science fiction, and time in narrative. Shorter entries feature other terms and genres such as nouveau roman, Quixotic novel, screenplay, and verisimilitude. Each entry is signed and includes cross references and a list of bibliography. Care was taken in producing a very full (77-page) index. This will be a valuable resource for students and researchers in many fields, including sociolinguistics, communication studies, literary theory, and philosophy."
- Reference and Research Book News, February 2006
'Potentially daunting, this complex subject is made a snap by clever arrangements for entries: five different types, from mini-essay to thumbnail definition, all cross-indexed. The helpful navigational aids include coded typeface, a thematically-organized reader's guide, and an excellent comprehensive index. Thorough, accessible, and remarkably free of obfuscating language. Highly recommended.'– Choice
'It is the single volume I would advise my students and other budding narratologists to purchase so as to have it constantly at hand for quick consultation...With its more than 700 tightly packed pages, close to 450 entries by 200 international experts on narrative-theoretical topics, plus an 80-page index, the Encyclopedia is well worth the investment.' - Pekka Tammi, Language and Literature 16:4 (2007)
