This book deserves to be read by anyone embarking on the thorny study of narratology. It guides the reader through a tricky welter of concepts with admirable critical aplomb and a wealth of apposite examples, ranging from the high-brow to the popular.
Professor Clive Scott
University of East Anglia
[The book] covers a wide array of concepts necessary in introductory courses on narratology, creative writing, and literary criticism. Although available digitally (open access) through the publisher’s website, the physical book is attractively designed and worth purchasing. In short, Prose Fiction will serve as a helpful companion text in any introductory course in which students analyze, critique, or compose narratives.
J. D. Harding, Saint Leo University
CHOICE Connect (0009-4978), vol. 58, no. 1, 2020.
Acknowledgements
Preface
1.1 What Is Narrative?
1.2 Genres
1.3 Prose Fiction
1.4 Story and Discourse
1.5 Beyond Literature
Summary
References
2.1 The Thread of Narrative
2.2 Emplotment
2.3 Beginnings, Middles, and Ends
2.4 Conflict and Resolution
2.5 Suspense and Surprise
Summary
References
3.1 The World of Narrative
3.2 Topography and Atmosphere
3.3 Kinds of Setting
3.4 Description
3.5 Verisimilitude
Summary
References
4.1 The Actants of Narrative
4.2 Individuation
4.3 Kinds of Character
4.4 Representing Characters
4.5 Dialogue
Summary
References
5.1 The Expression of Narrative
5.2 Narrators and Narratees
5.3 Focalisation
5.4 Telling and Showing
5.5 Commentary
Summary
References
6.1 The Style of Narrative
6.2 Foregrounding
6.3 Figures of Speech
6.4 Symbolism
6.5 Translation
Summary
References
7.1 The Meaning of Narrative
7.2 Identity
7.3 Ideology
7.4 Morality
7.5 Art and Politics
Summary
References
Illustrations
Examples of Short Stories and Novels
Glossary of Narrative Terms