Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film

"An important American contribution to the study of narrative theory."―Choice This book is the first comprehensive approach in English to a general theory of narrative, both in verbal and in visual media. The primary question to which Professor Chatman addresses himself is what narrative is in itself. Following such French structuralists as Roland Barthes, Tzvetan Todorov, and Gerard Genette, he posits a what and a way. "The what of narrative," he says, "I call its 'story'; the way, I call its 'discourse.'" Liberally illustrating his concepts with discussions of particular novels and films, he effects a synthesis of the latest Continental critical thinking about narrative and the Anglo-American tradition exemplified by Henry James, Percy Lubbock, Wayne Booth, and others. A judicious and well-informed book, Story and Discourse should become a standard guide to narrative and to modern thinking about narrative.

Table of Contents:
Preface1. Introduction Narrative and Poetics Elements of a Narrative Theory Is Narrative a Semiotic Structure? Manifestation and Physical Object Narrative Inference, Selection, and Coherence A Sketch of Narrative Structure A Comic Strip Example "Reading" and "Reading Out"2. Story: Events Sequence, Contingency, Causality Verisimilitude and Motivation Kernels and Satellites Stories and Antistories Suspense and Surprise Time and Plot Order, Duration, and Frequency How Time Distinctions Are Manifested Narrative Macrostructure and the Typology of Plot3. Story: Existents Story-Space and Discourse-Space Story-Space in Cinematic Narrative Story-Space in Verbal Narrative Story-Existents: Character Aristotle's Theory of Character Formalist and Structuralist Conceptions of Character Todorov and Barthes on Character Are Characters Open or Closed Constructs? Toward an Open Theory of Character Character: A Paradigm of Traits Kinds of Character A. C. Bradley and the Analysis of Character Setting4. Discourse: Nonnarrated Stories Real Author, Implied Author, Narrator, Real Reader, Implied Reader, Naratee Point of View and Its Relation to Narrative Voice Point of View in Film Narrators' and Characters' Speech Acts "Nonnarrated" Representation in General Nonnarrated Types: Written Records Pure Speech Records Soliloquy Records of Thought: Direct Free Style = Interior Monologue Stream of Consciousness = Free Association Interior Monologue in the Cinema5. Discourse: Covert versus Overt Narrators Covert Narrators Presupposition Indirect Tagged and Free Style The Manipulation of Sentences for Narrative Purposes: Presupposition as an Example Limitation of Authority in Narrative Transmission Shifting Limited versus Omniscient Mental Access Overt Narration: Set Descriptions Overt Narration: Temporal Summaries Reports of What Characters Did Not Think or Say Ethos and Commentary Commentary Implicit Commentary: Ironic Narrator and Unreliable Narrator Commentary and the Story: Interpretation Commentary and the Story: Judgment Commentary and the Story: Generalization Commentary on the Discourse The NarrateeConclusionAppendix: Diagram of Narrative StructureIndexes: Author and Title, Subject

About the Author :
Seymour Chatman is Professor of Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley.

Review :
An important American contribution to the study of narrative theory. (Choice) What I appreciate most in Chatman's study are the problem-solving activities and ambitions: again and again, he proves capable of defining areas to investigate (the borders between narrative and other temporal genres, for example, the typography of plots, the distinctive features of foregrounding and backgrounding) and of discussing narrative in terms of problems and solutions. When I opened the Chatman volume, I read the blurb first: 'A judicious and well-informed book, Story and Discourse should become the standard guide to narrative and to modern thinking about narrative.' The blurb is right. - Gerald Prince (MLN)