Narrative Fiction: Contemporay Poetics

New Accents

by Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan

What is a narrative? What is narrative fiction? How does it differ from other kinds of narrative? What featuers turn a discourse into a narrative text? Now widely acknowledged as one of the most significant volumes in its field, Narrative Fiction turns its attention to these and other questions. In contrast to many other studies, Narrative Fiction is organized arround issues - such as events, time, focalization, characterization, narration, the text and its reading - rather than individual theorists or approaches. Within this structure, Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan addresses key approaches to narrative fiction, including New Criticism, formlaism, structuralism and phenomenology, but also offers views of the modifications to these theroies. While presenting an analysis of the system governing all fictional narratives, whether in the form of novel, short story or narrative poem, she also suggests how individual narratives can be studied against the background of this general system. A broad range of literary examples illustrate key aspects of the study. This edition is brought fully up-to-date with an invaluable new chapter, reflecting on recent developments in narratology. Readers are also directed to key recent works in the field. These additions to a classic text ensure that Narrative Fiction will remain the ideal starting point for anyone new to narrative theory.

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing, Theory, Literary Criticism, Academic, School, Reference

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 1983

Reviews

[Alborz Taheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

ما از کشف کردن دست نخواهیم شست
و سرانجام همۀ کشف‌های ما همان جا خواهد بود
که از آن آغاز کرده‌ایم
تا آن‌جا را برای نخستین بار بشناسیم
تی.اس.الیوت
کتاب روایت داستانی: بوطیقای معاصر با این جمله به پایان می‌رسد. برای من بسیار کتاب جذّابی بود. هم موجز بود، هم پر ارجاع، هم پر مثال و هم پر پرسش. کتاب‌هایی این چنین که پرسش‌های نظری جدّی برای آدم ایجاد می‌کنند، بسیار مورد پسندم هستند!
کتاب از رخداد، شخصیّت، کانونی‌شدگی، زمان، راوی و روایت‌شنو تا متن و قرائت متن و نقش خواننده واقعی و پنهان در شکل گیری متن بحث می‌کند و در تمام این بحث‌ها به نظریات مختلفی ارجاع می‌دهد و مثال‌های گوناگونی نیز می‌آورد و البته بیشتر برای ورود به برخی بحث‌ها و فکر در رابطه با آن‌ها کتاب خوبی‌ست چرا که همان‌طور که نویسنده هم واقف است هر فصل از کتاب بیش‌تر از آن‌چه که در این کتاب آمده است نیاز به بررسی و مطالعه دارد.

[aída]

(read this for my dfd so no rating)

with all due respect to rimmon-kenan and the squad, i will be supporting my shitty hypothesis with this book. overall this read was actually quite useful, god bless

[نیلوفر رحمانیان · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hated this book :)) not just because i think viewing literature as a formalist or as an structuralist always unsees the part that distunguishes literature from any other prose, but because as the subject was boring (since it tried to formulate any literary text) the tone was just as boring making reading harder.

[Evoli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow, this was incredibly confusing...

[Theryn Fleming · Rating 3 out of 5]

Narrative Fiction is a short, easy-to-read book—and thus, an unintimidating introduction to narratology/narrative theory. The book is organized around three concepts: story (the succession of narrated events), text (the verbal representation of events), and narration (the act of telling or writing). Although the author specifically states in the opening chapter that her focus is narrative fiction—setting fictional narratives apart from other narratives—in the final chapter, she backtracks from this a bit, and IMO, most of her points can be applied to all narratives not just fictional ones. [This review refers to the first edition of the text.:]

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great intro text for literary/narrative fiction theory. At times the jargon was a little overpowering for someone not immersed in literary theory. I did really like the abundance of literary examples used by the author - these made the jargon make more sense!

[Hadis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very informative book and great introduction to narratology, the language was a bit confusing though, especially in the beginning.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to being able to understand / interpret / analyze texts from a new perspective. If English is not your first language, it can sometimes be a little difficult to understand what is written.

[aurora · Rating 2 out of 5]

i'll be using exactly two chapters of this, thanks for forcing this on me cedric

[فلاح رحيم · Rating 5 out of 5]

I strongly recommend this book to the students of Narratology and to the general readers of fiction as well. It reveals smoothly and Chrystal clearly the deepest secrets of narrative technique.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super interesting - I might use narratology in my dissertation, so this was a good intro. It's basically an analysis of how fiction works, like the difference between plot chronology and narrative chronology, how characterization happens, what defines an "event" in plot, the differences between story, text, and narration. Heady stuff. I can't help thinking about all these things now, as I go through stories after reading it. What I still need to figure out is how one uses this to critique literature. So what if I can define a series of events that make up a plot? Or how a narrator makes a character known? What does that do for understanding the thematic content? More research is needed.

[Reem · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember wanting to read this book as an ambitious first-year literary student. I never got round to doing it. Years later I’ve had to read this book for teaching purposes, and I will say that this book is quite useful for teachers and for introducing students to literary analysis and the terminology related to that. However, I also found that at certain times the terms and categories (and sub-categories) hindered the students’ ability to analyze literature rather than aiding it. I found some of the categorizations unnecessary and a little dated. Fiction and literature have changed a lot since the publication of this book, and it could definitely use a revision.

[DrCalvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some chapters in this book were very interesting and I read everything. Others were a lot more of a struggle, with big chunks that just felt like jargon for jargon's sake – in some cases other texts were helpful to understand the point of those chapters, but not always.

Overall, a good book on narrativity theory and the intro is very readable. Easy to see why it's still being used 20 years after publication

[Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive and useful overview of the key terms, definitions and questions in narratology. The author does a great job in challenging the previously widely accepted definitions based all too heavily on the authorial intention. Rimmon-Kenan draws attention on the role of the reader and their interpretation. Just where it should be, if I may so boldly maintain :)

[Jaime Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction to classical narratology. Reading it in 2018, the afterthoughts in chapter 11 are a must-read in order to understand the book in relation to later developments in literary theory.

[Eliška ** · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5⭐️

[Sinimalism · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of narratology

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

my eyes are long glazed over for a lot of this stuff

[Sneaky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it is confusing sometimes, it is very useful.

[Irena Zvárová · Rating 3 out of 5]

haaaaaaaaard to understand but helped me lay the foundations for my thesis so yay (?)

[Anas Ben Sabbouh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book in the process of understanding a lot about fiction.. very simple, clear.. a book One can begin with.

[Julianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very useful review of narrative theory. Brief and easy to follow. Great and many examples.

[Reza Qta · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book takes a fundamental approach when it's talking about formal narrative but It's a must read for everyone trying to start a writing career.

[Tory S. Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short and simple overview of narrative concepts from a literary background. Definitely light reading, but not useless.