Story and discourse : narrative structure in fiction and film

Author(s)

• Chatman, Seymour Benjamin

Bibliographic Information

Story and discourse : narrative structure in fiction and film

by Seymour Chatman

Cornell University Press, 1978

• : pbk

Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

"For the specialist in the study of narrative structure, this is a solid and very perceptive exploration of the issues salient to the telling of a story-whatever the medium. Chatman, whose approach here is at once dualist and structuralist, divides his subject into the 'what' of the narrative (Story) and the 'way' (Discourse)... Chatman's command of his material is impressive."-Library Journal

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

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BA00805514
• ISBN:
  • 0801411319
  • 080149186X
• LCCN: 78009329
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Ithaca, N.Y.
• Pages/Volumes: 277 p.
• Size: 22 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : NX650.N37
  • DC : 700/.1
  • NDC6 : 704
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Arts
  • LCSH : Narration (Rhetoric)