The Narrative Turn in Fiction and Theory: The Crisis and Return of Storytelling from Robbe-Grillet to Tournier(Palgrave Studies in Modern European Literature)

The Narrative Turn in Fiction and Theory relates the recent theoretical surge of interest in narrative to the revival of storytelling in fiction, particularly perceptible in France, where the preceding crisis of storytelling was exceptionally intense. It analyses the philosophical and historical underpinnings of the postwar crisis and return of storytelling, and shows how fiction explored ideas integral to the ongoing discussion of the significance of narrative for human existence, in advance of their theoretical articulation. While the nouveaux romanciers and postwar intellectuals believed that narratives violently impose order on the disorder of experience, the return of storytelling entails critical reflection on the ethical potential and dangers in our inevitable entanglement in cultural narratives. Hanna Meretoja contributes to contemporary narrative studies by developing a narrative hermeneutics which envisages storytelling as a process of reinterpreting experiences in a dialogical relation to cultural models of narrative sense-making. By bringing theory and fiction of the narrative turn into a dialogue, she proposes a framework for a historically sensitive study of the philosophical (ontological, epistemological, ethical, aesthetic) dimensions of different conceptions of narrative and suggests how to tie more intimately narrative theory to the study of narrative in literary history.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction PART I 2. Textual Labyrinths: Robbe-Grillet's Antinarrative Formalism 3. The Epistemology and Ontology of Antinarrativism 4. Ethics of Antinarrativity in the Post-War Context PART II 5. Re-Engagement with the World: Towards an Aesthetics of Dialogical Intertextuality 6. Narrative Hermeneutics and Dialogical Subjectivity 7. Ethics of Storytelling: History, Power, Otherness 8. Conclusion Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Hanna Meretoja is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Tampere, Finland, Adjunct Professor and Research Fellow at the University of Turku, Finland, Visiting Professor at the American University of Paris, France, (2013-14) and leads the research project The Ethics of Storytelling and the Experience of History in Contemporary Arts (Emil Aaltonen Foundation, Finland, 2013-15). She has co-edited several books and published articles on forums such as New Literary History.

Review :
'Hanna Meretoja's exploration of new trends in contemporary European literature is of very high quality indeed. This book represents a significant contribution to the studies of twentieth-century French literature and narrative theory.' - Simon Kemp, University of Oxford, UK 'Meretoja's book has evident relevance and usefulness for any professional reader internationally, in the field of literature and philosophy, in particular, ethics. It synthesises from a clear, critical, and engaged perspective an impressive amount of philosophical research on narrativity, subjectivity, and their ethical implications. It also shows in an exemplary way how to combine textual analysis, literary history and philosophical/ethical discussion.' - Liesbeth Korthals Altes, University of Groningen, The Netherlands 'Meretoja's book develops a philosophical approach to literature which sees fiction as dynamically bound up with philosophy, not as a medium for expressing pre-existing positions but as one of the ways in which existing ideas are explored and tested. This understanding of the literary text as performing thought in its very literary form makes possible the exchange which the book negotiates between the texts and a wide range of contemporary thinkers. The philosophical and literary acumen shown here is deeply impressive. This is high stakes literary criticism. Secondary writing on literature can sometimes be clever but trivial; no one can make that accusation at this study. This is an original, innovative and scholarly piece of work that constitutes a major contribution to literary criticism, narrative studies and the humanities more broadly.' - Colin Davis, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK