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• How to write a narrative essay | Example & tips

How to Write a Narrative Essay | Example & Tips

Published on July 24, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

A narrative essay tells a story. In most cases, this is a story about a personal experience you had. This type of essay , along with the descriptive essay , allows you to get personal and creative, unlike most academic writing .

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Table of contents

What is a narrative essay for, choosing a topic, interactive example of a narrative essay, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about narrative essays.

When assigned a narrative essay, you might find yourself wondering: Why does my teacher want to hear this story? Topics for narrative essays can range from the important to the trivial. Usually the point is not so much the story itself, but the way you tell it.

A narrative essay is a way of testing your ability to tell a story in a clear and interesting way. You’re expected to think about where your story begins and ends, and how to convey it with eye-catching language and a satisfying pace.

These skills are quite different from those needed for formal academic writing. For instance, in a narrative essay the use of the first person (“I”) is encouraged, as is the use of figurative language, dialogue, and suspense.

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Narrative essay assignments vary widely in the amount of direction you’re given about your topic. You may be assigned quite a specific topic or choice of topics to work with.

• Write a story about your first day of school.
• Write a story about your favorite holiday destination.

You may also be given prompts that leave you a much wider choice of topic.

• Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself.
• Write about an achievement you are proud of. What did you accomplish, and how?

In these cases, you might have to think harder to decide what story you want to tell. The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to talk about a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

For example, a trip where everything went according to plan makes for a less interesting story than one where something unexpected happened that you then had to respond to. Choose an experience that might surprise the reader or teach them something.

Narrative essays in college applications

When applying for college , you might be asked to write a narrative essay that expresses something about your personal qualities.

For example, this application prompt from Common App requires you to respond with a narrative essay.

In this context, choose a story that is not only interesting but also expresses the qualities the prompt is looking for—here, resilience and the ability to learn from failure—and frame the story in a way that emphasizes these qualities.

An example of a short narrative essay, responding to the prompt “Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself,” is shown below.

Hover over different parts of the text to see how the structure works.

Since elementary school, I have always favored subjects like science and math over the humanities. My instinct was always to think of these subjects as more solid and serious than classes like English. If there was no right answer, I thought, why bother? But recently I had an experience that taught me my academic interests are more flexible than I had thought: I took my first philosophy class.

Before I entered the classroom, I was skeptical. I waited outside with the other students and wondered what exactly philosophy would involve—I really had no idea. I imagined something pretty abstract: long, stilted conversations pondering the meaning of life. But what I got was something quite different.

A young man in jeans, Mr. Jones—“but you can call me Rob”—was far from the white-haired, buttoned-up old man I had half-expected. And rather than pulling us into pedantic arguments about obscure philosophical points, Rob engaged us on our level. To talk free will, we looked at our own choices. To talk ethics, we looked at dilemmas we had faced ourselves. By the end of class, I’d discovered that questions with no right answer can turn out to be the most interesting ones.

The experience has taught me to look at things a little more “philosophically”—and not just because it was a philosophy class! I learned that if I let go of my preconceptions, I can actually get a lot out of subjects I was previously dismissive of. The class taught me—in more ways than one—to look at things with an open mind.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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If you’re not given much guidance on what your narrative essay should be about, consider the context and scope of the assignment. What kind of story is relevant, interesting, and possible to tell within the word count?

The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to reflect on a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

Don’t worry too much if your topic seems unoriginal. The point of a narrative essay is how you tell the story and the point you make with it, not the subject of the story itself.

Narrative essays are usually assigned as writing exercises at high school or in university composition classes. They may also form part of a university application.

When you are prompted to tell a story about your own life or experiences, a narrative essay is usually the right response.

The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.

Narrative and descriptive essays both allow you to write more personally and creatively than other kinds of essays , and similar writing skills can apply to both.

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Writing contests, make money writing, hottest topics, narrative prose: the elements of description and narration.

A writer’s earliest literary impulse has always been to report what he sees in the world around him. In “ Description ,” he endeavors to portray the scene before his eyes; in “ Narration ,” he attempts to tell the story. These are two very important elements in writing a story.

Some of our favorite authors have praised parts of their success on having learned to write descriptive scenes and characters, but with lots of self-control.

Stephen King said, “ In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it ‘got boring,’ the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling. ” And Elmore Leonard , an American novelist and screenwriter, said, “ Don’t go into great detail describing places and things, unless you’re Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language. You don’t want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill. ”

These remarks will save us from that “description-worship” which is a sort of literary influenza.

All art is selective in its action . Here again we can observe that principle. A writer chooses the most characteristic features to describe a battle, a landscape, or a mental agony. He must avoid enumeration of detail; otherwise he will not produce a description but a catalogue. The writer’s ultimate goal is to create an order of things which he has seen, heard or felt, so that the reader has no difficulty in mentally reproducing the original picture.

Every description must be true to the point of view. Scottish author and poet, George MacDonald , never got tired of saying, “ A genuine work of art must mean many things; the truer its art, the more things it will mean .”

In one of my favorite paintings, Joseph Mallord William Turner (a watercolorist and landscape painter) painted an old warship as if it had no rigging. The warship was painted in its proper place in the ocean, of course, but the artist could not see it, and he refused to put it in his picture, as if, at the distance, it was not visible.

“ When you see birds fly you do not see any feathers ,” said W. M. Hunt in his Talk About Art , “ you are not to draw reality, but reality as it appears to you. ”

Let’s take an illustration from recent literature. Editors often complain—and rightly—that writers are not always careful in writing their descriptions. For example, in a recently published murder-mystery novel, the author describes a scene where the parents of four kids are seated at the kitchen table at night, and a stranger enters from the side door. The author is right in describing the stranger’s appearance and clothes, but he is at fault when he describes (in length) about the stranger’s feet, boots and socks. When we sit down in the evening, and someone comes in, we notice only the upper part of his body. If I describe the feet, daylight enters at once, and the scene loses its nocturnal character.

Greek poet Homer describes a shield as smooth, beautiful, brazen and well hammered; that is, he gives the particulars in the order in which we observe them. Modern description is largely suggestive in type.

Theodor Seuss Geisel , better known to us as Dr. Seuss, said, “ Words and pictures are yin and yang. Married, they produce a progeny more interesting than either parent .”

Clive Eric Cussler , an American adventure novelist, is a master of description simply because we are not conscious of his workmanship.

English novelist Charles Dickens took the trouble to enumerate the characteristics of his character, Mrs. Gamp , one by one; but he succeeded in presenting another character, Mrs. Fezziwig , by simply saying, “ In came Mrs. Fezziwig, one vast substantial smile .” Robert Louis Stevenson , in a few masterful graphic touches, sets before us one of his creations. “ An ivory-faced and silvery-haired old woman opened the door. She had an evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy, but her manners were excellent .”

This is descriptive power of the first order; and while servile imitation is highly reprehensible, one cannot give better advice than this: Study Stevenson’s method, from the blind man in Treasure Island to Kirstie in The Weir of Hermiston .

Narrative prose contains specific elements that spawns many topics and writing styles. For example’s sake, let’s choose the story.

Writer David Pryde sums up the whole matter in the following remarks: “ Keeping the beginning and the end in view, we set out from the right starting place, and go straight towards the destination; we introduce no event that does not spring from the first cause and tend to the great effect; we make each detail a link joined to the one going before, and to the one coming after; we make, in fact, all the details into one entire chain, which we can take up as a whole, carry about with us, and retain as long as we please .”

How many elements does David Pryde refer to? Elements include plot , movement , unity , proportion , purpose , and climax . Space will not permit more than a glance at one or two. The plot of a story is “ that intricate series of events that are to be unraveled, generally by unexpected means, at the end .”

VIEW NARRATIVE PROSE GRAPH

We must have a story to tell. It is just here that mere rule is at its weakest. To conceive a plot, to perceive a mystery in life and weave it into a narrative—these are powers which no art can bestow. All attempts to teach plot construction are surely vanity and vexation of spirit.

The law of proportion is an important factor in writing stories. It protests against introducing episodes or digressing into other parts of the story. Using too many details can also hinder the real progress of the narrative. How many stories have been spoiled just because the writer lazily lured himself onto a side road which leads nowhere! Rambling may be a delightful physical exercise, but in literature, it is an unpardonable sin. Climax requires that “ the thought as it advances should rise in interest and importance with each successive step, until the culmination concentrates in itself, in some sense, the significance of all that has gone before .”

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Understanding Prose in Literature: A Comprehensive Guide

Defining prose, types of prose, prose vs. verse, prose styles, narrative style, descriptive style, expository style, argumentative style, literary devices in prose, foreshadowing, analyzing prose, close reading, theme and message, notable authors and their prose, jane austen, ernest hemingway, toni morrison, prose in different cultures, greek prose, indian prose, japanese prose.

Prose in literature is a fascinating topic that has captured the attention of readers and writers for centuries. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the different aspects of prose and how it shapes the world of literature. By understanding prose, you will be able to appreciate the beauty of written language and enhance your own writing skills. So, let's dive into the captivating world of prose in literature!

Prose is a form of written language that follows a natural, everyday speech pattern. It is the way we communicate in writing without adhering to the strict rules of poetry or verse. In literature, prose encompasses a wide range of written works, from novels and short stories to essays and articles. To better understand prose in literature, let's look at the different types of prose and how it compares to verse.

There are several types of prose in literature, each serving a unique purpose and offering a different reading experience:

• Fiction: Imaginative works, such as novels and short stories, that tell a story.
• Non-fiction: Informative works, such as essays, articles, and biographies, that present facts and real-life experiences.
• Drama: Plays and scripts written in prose form, often featuring dialogue and stage directions.
• Prose poetry: A hybrid form that combines elements of prose and poetry, creating a more fluid and expressive style.

By exploring these types of prose, you can better appreciate the versatility and depth of prose in literature.

Prose and verse are two distinct forms of written language, each with its own characteristics and purposes. Here's a quick comparison:

• Prose: Written in a natural, conversational style, prose uses sentences and paragraphs to convey meaning. It is the most common form of writing and can be found in novels, essays, articles, and other forms of literature.
• Verse: Written in a structured, rhythmic pattern, verse often uses stanzas, rhyme, and meter to create a more musical quality. It is most commonly found in poetry and song lyrics.

Understanding the differences between prose and verse can help you appreciate the unique qualities of each form and how they contribute to the richness of literature.

Just as there are different types of prose, there are also various prose styles that authors use to convey their ideas and stories. These styles can be categorized into four main groups:

The narrative style tells a story by presenting events in a sequence, typically involving characters and a plot. This style is commonly used in novels, short stories, and biographies. Some key features of the narrative style include:

• Chronological or non-chronological structure
• Use of dialogue and description
• Focus on characters, their actions, and motivations
• Development of a plot, consisting of a beginning, middle, and end

By using the narrative style, authors can create engaging stories that draw readers in and make them feel a part of the experience.

The descriptive style focuses on painting a vivid picture of a person, place, or thing. This style is used to provide detailed information and create a strong sensory experience for the reader. Some key features of the descriptive style include:

• Use of sensory language, such as sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch
• Adjectives and adverbs to enhance descriptions
• Figurative language, such as similes and metaphors, to create vivid imagery
• Attention to detail and setting

By mastering the descriptive style, authors can transport readers to new worlds and enrich their understanding of the subject matter.

The expository style is used to explain, inform, or describe a topic. This style is commonly found in textbooks, essays, and articles. Some key features of the expository style include:

• Clear, concise language
• Logical organization of information
• Use of examples, facts, and statistics to support the main idea
• An objective, unbiased tone

By employing the expository style, authors can effectively convey information and help readers gain a deeper understanding of a subject.

The argumentative style is used to persuade or convince the reader of a certain viewpoint. This style is often found in opinion pieces, essays, and debates. Some key features of the argumentative style include:

• A clear, well-defined thesis statement
• Logical organization of arguments and evidence
• Use of facts, statistics, and examples to support the thesis
• Addressing and refuting opposing viewpoints
• A persuasive, confident tone

By mastering the argumentative style, authors can effectively present their opinions and persuade readers to consider their perspective.

Understanding these different prose styles can help you appreciate the diverse ways authors use language to convey their ideas and enhance your own writing abilities.

Authors use various literary devices to enrich their prose and make it more engaging for the reader. These devices help create an emotional connection, build suspense, or bring out deeper meanings in the text. Let's explore some of the most commonly used literary devices in prose:

Imagery is the use of vivid and descriptive language to create a picture in the reader's mind. This technique appeals to the five senses and can make a piece of writing more immersive and memorable. Some examples of imagery include:

• Visual imagery: describing the appearance of a character or setting
• Auditory imagery: describing sounds, such as the rustling of leaves or the roar of a crowd
• Olfactory imagery: describing smells, such as the scent of fresh-baked cookies or the aroma of a garden
• Gustatory imagery: describing tastes, such as the sweetness of a ripe fruit or the bitterness of a cup of coffee
• Tactile imagery: describing textures and physical sensations, such as the softness of a blanket or the warmth of the sun

By using imagery, authors can create a richer, more engaging experience for the reader.

Foreshadowing is a technique used to hint at events that will occur later in the story. This can create suspense, build anticipation, and keep the reader engaged. Foreshadowing can be subtle or more direct and can take various forms, such as:

• Character dialogue or thoughts
• Symbolism or motifs
• Setting or atmosphere
• Actions or events that mirror or prefigure future events

By incorporating foreshadowing, authors can create a sense of mystery and intrigue that keeps readers turning the pages.

Allusion is a reference to a well-known person, event, or work of art, literature, or music. This technique allows authors to make connections and add depth to their writing without explicitly stating the reference. Allusions can serve various purposes, such as:

• Creating a shared understanding between the author and the reader
• Establishing a cultural, historical, or literary context
• Adding layers of meaning or symbolism
• Providing a subtle commentary or critique

By using allusion, authors can enhance their prose and engage readers with shared knowledge and cultural references.

These are just a few examples of the many literary devices that authors use to enrich their prose in literature. By understanding and recognizing these techniques, you can deepen your appreciation of the written word and perhaps even add some of these tools to your own writing repertoire.

Analyzing prose in literature involves closely examining the text to gain a deeper understanding of the author's intentions, themes, and techniques. This process can help you appreciate the nuances of the writing and uncover new insights. Let's explore some approaches to analyzing prose:

Close reading is a method of carefully examining the text to identify its structure, themes, and literary devices. This approach involves paying attention to details such as:

• Word choice and diction
• Sentence structure and syntax
• Imagery and figurative language
• Characterization and dialogue
• Setting and atmosphere

By closely examining these elements, you can gain a deeper understanding of the author's intentions and the text's overall meaning.

Identifying the theme or central message of a piece of prose is another important aspect of analysis. A theme is a recurring idea, topic, or subject that runs through the text. Some common themes in literature include:

• Love and relationships
• Identity and self-discovery
• Power and authority
• Conflict and resolution
• Nature and the environment

To identify the theme of a piece of prose, consider the overall message or lesson that the author is trying to convey. Look for patterns, motifs, and symbols that support this message. Understanding the theme can help you better appreciate the author's intentions and the text's significance.

By employing these approaches to analyzing prose in literature, you can deepen your understanding of the text and enhance your appreciation of the author's craft. Whether you're studying a classic novel or a contemporary short story, these skills will help you unlock the richness and complexity of the written word.

Throughout history, numerous authors have made significant contributions to the world of prose in literature. Their unique writing styles and innovative approaches to storytelling have left an indelible mark on the literary landscape. Let's take a closer look at some notable authors and their distinctive prose:

Jane Austen, an English author from the early 19th century, is well-known for her witty and satirical prose. Her novels often center on themes of love, marriage, and social class in the Georgian era. Examples of her work include Pride and Prejudice , Sense and Sensibility , and Emma . Austen's prose is characterized by:

• Sharp wit and humor
• Observant descriptions of characters and their social interactions
• Realistic dialogue that reveals the personalities and motivations of her characters
• Insightful commentary on societal norms and expectations of her time

Ernest Hemingway, an American author from the 20th century, is celebrated for his distinctive writing style that has had a lasting impact on prose in literature. His works often explore themes of war, love, and the human condition, such as in A Farewell to Arms , The Old Man and the Sea , and For Whom the Bell Tolls . Hemingway's prose is characterized by:

• Simple, direct language and short sentences
• An emphasis on action and external events
• Understated emotions and a focus on the physical world
• A "less is more" approach that leaves room for reader interpretation

Toni Morrison, an American author and Nobel laureate, is renowned for her powerful, evocative prose that delves into the complexities of human relationships and the African American experience. Notable works include Beloved , Song of Solomon , and The Bluest Eye . Morrison's prose is characterized by:

• Rich, lyrical language and vivid imagery
• Complex characters and multi-layered narratives
• Explorations of race, gender, and identity
• A strong sense of voice and emotional intensity

These authors, among many others, have each left their unique imprint on the realm of prose in literature. By studying their works and understanding their techniques, we can better appreciate the diverse ways in which writers can use prose to convey their stories and ideas.

Prose in literature is a global phenomenon, with each culture bringing its own distinctive style, themes, and literary traditions to the table. Let's explore how prose has developed and evolved in some cultures around the world:

Ancient Greek prose has had a profound influence on Western literature. Spanning various genres such as philosophy, history, and drama, Greek prose is known for its intellectual depth and stylistic sophistication. Key features of Greek prose include:

• Rhetorical devices like repetition, parallelism, and antithesis
• Emphasis on logic, reason, and argumentation
• Rich vocabulary and complex sentence structures
• Notable authors like Plato, Aristotle, and Herodotus

Indian prose in literature spans thousands of years and numerous languages, with each region and time period contributing its own flavor to the mix. Indian prose is often characterized by:

• Epic tales and religious texts, such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana
• Folk tales, fables, and parables that convey moral lessons
• Ornate and poetic language, with a focus on imagery and symbolism
• Notable authors like Rabindranath Tagore, R. K. Narayan, and Arundhati Roy

Japanese prose in literature is known for its elegance, subtlety, and attention to detail. Spanning various genres such as poetry, drama, and fiction, Japanese prose often explores themes of nature, human emotion, and the passage of time. Key features of Japanese prose include:

• Haiku and other poetic forms that emphasize simplicity and precision
• Descriptions of the natural world and the changing seasons
• Understated emotions and a focus on the inner lives of characters
• Notable authors like Yasunari Kawabata, Yukio Mishima, and Haruki Murakami

By examining the diverse range of prose in literature from various cultures, we can gain a deeper appreciation for the many ways in which authors use language to tell stories, express ideas, and convey the human experience.

If you found this blog post intriguing and want to delve deeper into writing from your memories, be sure to check out Charlie Brogan's workshop, ' Writing From Memory - Part 1 .' This workshop will guide you through the process of tapping into your memories and transforming them into captivating stories. Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your writing skills and unleash your creativity!

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5 – Narration

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5.1 Defining Narration

So far, we have analyzed the main constituents of the story, or, as we have called them, the existents of the storyworld : events , environments , and characters . But the storyworld only comes to exist because someone (a narrator ) tells a story to someone else (a narratee ). This is what we call narration , a communicative act that does not happen in the storyworld or at the level of the story. Narration is part of discourse , which constitutes the second level in our semiotic model of narrative.

Narrative discourse is the communication between the implied author and the implied reader of a narrative (see #Fig. 1.5 ). The ‘implied author’ 1 is implied because it does not have an explicit or independent reality, as the real author does, but must be reconstructed by the reader from the narrative itself. It is important in this sense to distinguish the implied author from the narrator of the story. The implied author does not tell anything; it does not have a voice. It is simply the organizing principle of discourse, which includes the narrator and the other aspects of the narration. 2 Every narrative has an implied author , even if it does not have a real author (e.g., a computer-generated text) or it has many of them (e.g., collaborative fiction ). Similarly, every narrative has an implied reader, which is the ideal reader addressed by narrative discourse. 3

Ben’s Bonus Bit – Why Narrative Theory? Avoiding Common Pitfalls

What is gained by adopting this onion-like, semiotic model of storytelling? Why bother distinguishing implied authors from real or from narrators? This is the most jargon-heavy section of our textbook, but narrative theory provides a few key benefits to students studying fiction. First, insisting on division between real author, implied author, and narrator avoids the authorial or intentional fallacy —the notion that an author’s intentions should limit or control the ways a text is interpreted—which can severely restrict the creativity of student essays. As we discussed in the case of J. K. Rowling’s controversial tweets and blog posts in the previous chapter, the relative importance of the author in shaping our understanding of a text is a matter of some debate and has been a salient point of contention among scholars since the rise of New Criticism in the 1940s. The New Critics, including T.S. Eliot, insisted that close textual analysis is the key to making successful interpretive claims. While New Criticism eventually gave way to Feminism, Structuralism, Deconstruction theory, Reader-Response, and other movements in literary criticism, the practice of close reading remains essential to essay writing at the collegiate level . Narrative Theory encourages close reading by insisting on division between author’s biography and analysis of implied author or narrator. Score one for the New Critics.

Second, students are occasionally tempted to draw moral or moralistic conclusions about an author based on the ideas or behaviors of a narrator. This is almost always a grand interpretive mistake, leading to judgmental essays with non-academic tones. These novice readers severely underestimate the creativity of writers , who often invent unreliable or even evil narrators. We have already mentioned Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita and its horrible narrator Humbert Humbert. To ascribe any of Humbert’s vile ideas to the novel’s real author amounts to slander or defamation and gives aid and intellectual cover to censorship efforts. Students, who are often not creative writers themselves, have difficulty imagining that an author could write so eloquently from the perspective of a pedophile without himself owning those impulses, yet Nabokov condemned pedophilia repeatedly throughout his life. Indeed, Nabokov’s disdain for Lewis Carroll, a writer who has been accused of pedophilia, bleeds through in Lolita itself. Narrative theory allows us to escape these tempting misreadings by acknowledging fiction-writing as a craft and the artifice of storytelling from the jump. If we wish to write sophisticated, intellectually generous academic prose (and we should wish this), building a theoretical wall between judgment and analysis is an important psychological step. This advice does not preclude moral judgment or consideration for morality in answering the “so what?” question in any essay, but it does ward off students from non-academic rhetorical moves, which are common in Introduction to Fiction courses.

In this chapter, we will examine in some detail the different elements of narration . Then, in the next chapters, we will look at other key aspects of discourse, namely language and theme . Of course, the questions raised by the analysis of discourse often cross over to the story. Therefore, we must always keep in mind the distinction between these two levels of narrative.

This is particularly important when we discuss narration because the object of narration is the story itself. We can only interpret the storyworld (with all its events, environments, and characters) from the story told by the narrator to the narratee. While neither the narrator nor the narratee need to exist as such in the storyworld, these figures of discourse can also be characters in the story, a complication that we will try to clarify in the following pages.

First, we need to define more precisely what we mean by narration and the relationship between narration and the story being narrated. Then we will look more closely at the two figures of discourse involved in narration, the narrator and the narratee, outlining the types most commonly found in prose fiction. We will then examine the concept of focalization , an important and closely related aspect of narration, which refers to the point of view or perspective adopted by the narrator of the story. Next, we will discuss in more detail the basic means by which narrators can represent events, characters, and environments: telling and showing . But narrators, besides representing the existents of the storyworld, often also make comments about them. To conclude the chapter, therefore, we will consider the use of explicit and implicit commentary in prose fiction.

5.2 The Expression of Narrative

Narration is the communicative act of telling a story . The figures of discourse involved in this act are the narrator (who tells the story) and the narratee (who listens to, or reads, the story). The story is what is being told. Narration is how it is being told. This involves a series of prior decisions, attributed to the implied author (and, ultimately, to the real author) about who the narrator will be, what kind of knowledge the narrator will have about the existents of the storyworld, what narrative techniques the narrator will employ to convey the story, and so on. All these decisions, taken together, define the expression of narrative , that is, the process of communicating the story.

Here, we are mostly concerned with the narration of a story, which is an instance of narrative discourse. But prose fiction can also include narration within the story itself. 4 For example, in One Thousand and One Nights a narrator tells the story of a sultan who kills all of his new wives after the first night, until Scheherazade keeps him in suspense for 1,001 nights by telling him different stories (see Fig. 5.1). The narrator of these stories is of course Scheherazade herself. But many of the stories she tells include characters who tell other stories in their turn. Inception ! The result is an intricate structure of embedded or subordinated narratives. While most short stories and novels are not as complex as One Thousand and One Nights , the technique of embedding narratives, also known as ‘a story within a story,’ is a common literary device. Such a technique, however, does not affect the general framework of our semiotic model of narrative. Regardless of how many embedded stories we find in a narrative, every story is framed by a higher level of discourse, which includes its narration. 5 If that narration is part of another story, then the whole structure is repeated, until we reach the highest level of narrative , which links an implied author with an implied reader .

Fig. 5.1 Édouard Frédéric Wilhelm Richter, Scheherazade (before 1913), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edouard_Frederic_ Wilhelm_Richter_-_Scheherazade.jpg

In some cases, short stories and novels consciously play with the different levels of narrative, either to transgress them or simply for comic effect. For example, Laurence Sterne’s novel Tristram Shandy is narrated by the eponymous character, who supposedly tells his life story. But the narrator constantly crosses the boundaries of narration to directly address the reader (‘breaking the fourth wall’ in film) or to call into question the verisimilitude of the narrative itself. In postmodernist fiction of the late 20th century, there are quite a few examples of this sort of transgression, often using the so-called “ mise en abyme “ device, in which embedding stories within stories creates unresolvable paradoxes, as in André Gide’s The Counterfeiters , where one of the characters intends to write the same novel in which he appears. Other types of frame tales have existed in prose or narrative poetry for millennia, with Homer’s The Odyssey , Dante’s “The Divine Comedy,” and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales among them.

All these self-conscious devices, rather than contradicting the general framework of narrative that we have been presenting here, are exceptions that confirm the rule. The fact is that most fictions establish, explicitly or implicitly, a clear distinction between the level of discourse and the level of story. Narration, which occurs at the level of discourse, is the communicative act between a narrator and a narratee responsible for expressing or representing all the elements of the story.

5.3 Narrators and Narratees

The narrator of a story is the figure of discourse that tells the story . This definition seems simple enough, but in practice there are several complications. Similarly, the narratee is the figure of discourse to whom the narrator tells the story . Again, there are quite a few practical considerations about this figure that we need to clarify.

In most short stories and novels, the narrator can be easily identified by asking the question: ‘who speaks?’ (or ‘who writes?’ when the story is supposedly told in writing). Often, however, this narrator does not have a name or a clear identity, so we speak of an unknown narrator, even though we can sometimes infer details about his or her life, personality, or opinions from the narration itself. In other cases, the narrator is just a voice with no subjective dimension whatsoever.

One aspect of this voice that is usually obvious from the narrative is the person status of the narration. Founded on a grammatical distinction, the notion of person allows us to discern the underlying relationships between the narrator, the narratee, and the characters in the story :

• First-person narrator : the narrator tends to use the first person quite often (“I went out at five o’clock”), even if other grammatical persons exist in text. This kind of narrative voice is commonly found in stories told by a narrator who is also the protagonist, or at least a relevant character, in the plot. The narratee may or may not be explicit. For example, J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (Fig. 5.2) is narrated by its seventeen-year-old protagonist, Holden Caulfield, who naturally tends to talk quite a lot about himself
• Second-person narrator : the narrator uses the second person most of the time (“You went out at five o’clock”). The second person explicitly refers to the narratee, which in some cases might be the narrator himself. This kind of voice is difficult to sustain throughout the narrative and has generally been tried only in experimental novels, such as Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller , where the framing narrative directly addresses a reader of the novel (narratee). It is more common in short or flash fiction (Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” or Akwaeke Emezi’s “Muzik di Zumbi”)
• Third-person narrator : the narrator uses the third person most of the time (“The marquise went out at five o’clock”). This is, by far, the most common narrative person in prose fiction. The narrator may or may not be a character in the story. Similarly, the narratee may be explicit or implicit. There are countless examples of this perspective. One of them is John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath , told by a narrator who does not participate in the story.

Fig. 5.2 First-edition cover of The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J. D. Salinger, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:The_Catcher_in_the_Rye_ (1951,_first_edition_cover).jpg

It is also important to make a distinction related to the previous classification between two kinds of narrators:

• External narrator : the narrator only exists as a figure of discourse . She is not a character in the story and only speaks from outside of the storyworld. Once again, The Grapes of Wrath is a good example.
• Internal narrator : on the other hand, besides being a figure of discourse, an internal narrator is also an existent in the storyworld . Whether he is actually a character depends on his participation in the story, which can be extensive (e.g. a narrator who is also a major character, like the husband in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”) or limited (e.g. a narrator who is just a secondary character, like Dr. Watson in “A Scandal in Bohemia” and many other Sherlock Holmes stories). While it is also possible for the narrator to be part of the storyworld without being a character in the story, this is rare and not easy to distinguish from an external narrator.

There are also certain types of narrative that seem to lack a narrator, for example epistolary novels like Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ Les Liaisons Dangereuses , which consists entirely of letters exchanged between the different characters. But even in such cases there is an implicit figure of discourse , a narrator, who has arranged and edited the letters to tell a certain story. What is lacking here, therefore, is not the narrator, but the narrative voice or an explicit narration.

Finally, we should not forget that narration is itself a process, a communicative act carried out by a narrator at a certain time and place. The spatial relationship between the narrator’s environment and the environments of the storyworld is usually only relevant if the narrator is internal to the storyworld. But the temporal relationship between narration and the events of the story has some influence on the form of narrative discourse, even if the temporalities of the narrator and the storyworld belong to different levels. When considered in relation to the events arranged in the plot, there are basically three kinds of narration: 6

• Ulterior narration : events are supposed to have already happened when the narrator tells the story. This is the most common form of narration, which uses past tense as a standard narrative tense. Most short stories and novels are narrated using this convention.
• Anterior narration : events are not supposed to have happened yet when the narrator tells the story. This form, which tends to use the future tense, is rare in prose fiction. We generally only find it in prophecy or visionary narratives , for example in the Bible.
• Simultaneous narration : events are supposed to happen while the narrator tells the story. This form is usually only found in diaries or novels that experiment with narrative voice, as in Michel Butor’s Second Thoughts , narrated in present tense and addressed by the narrator to himself.

As with any communicative act, narration involves a sender, the narrator, but also a recipient, the narratee . The narratee is situated at the same level as the narrator. But narratees are generally not as easy to identify as narrators . While they are sometimes explicitly mentioned in the narrative, most often they are only implicit figures, never mentioned or even acknowledged.

Like narrators, narratees can be external or internal to the storyworld. External narratees are generally left implicit and could easily be mistaken for implied or real readers. Even when the narrator addresses the narratee as “reader,” for example in Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre , it does not mean that she is in fact addressing the real (or even the implied) reader. In this case, the label “reader” is simply the term employed by the narrator to address an otherwise undetermined external narratee. Certainly, it seems that the (implied) author has chosen to put in the mouth of the narrator a term that refers to the (implied) reader. But such transgression of the levels of narrative (see Chapter 1 ) is only superficial. In fact, the narrator of a story can never address the implied reader , which is necessarily external to the discourse that brings the narrator herself into existence.

Internal narratees can also be left implicit, in which case it is difficult to distinguish them from external ones. When they are identified during the narration, internal narratees tend to be minor characters (e.g. the stranger who listens to the story told by Jean-Baptiste Clamence in Albert Camus’ The Fall ) or other existents in the storyworld (e.g. the unnamed individual to whom the narrator of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” addresses his plea). There are also instances of collective narratees, when the narrator addresses an audience instead of a single recipient (e.g. the sailors who listen to Marlow’s story in The Heart of Darkness or the academic public of the ape Red Peter in Kafka’s “A Report to an Academy”), as well as cases where the narrator and the narratee are identical, for example when the story is narrated in an intimate diary (e.g. Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary ).

Finally, we should not forget that narration in prose fiction is sometimes shared by multiple narrators and can address multiple narratees, with the different parts of the narrative presented as a sequence of chapters, as in William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury , or intertwined in more complex arrangements, as in Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire .

5.4 Focalization

Identifying the narrator of a story is generally not enough to properly understand the mechanism of narration. Some narrators seem to move in and out of different characters’ consciousness with ease, while others remain attached to a single character’s perspective or constrain themselves to narrating observable events, without ever penetrating any character’s consciousness or presuming to know their thoughts. These differences can be better grasped with the concept of focalization , a technical term that is commonly used in narratology to replace the more ambiguous, but still popular, concept of point of view .

If the response to the question ‘who speaks?’ in a narrative is ‘the narrator,’ focalization responds to the additional question ‘from which perspective or point of view?’ Focalization can be defined as the perspective adopted by the narrator when telling the story , which is basically determined by the position of the narrator in relation to the characters in the storyworld. We can identify two fundamental types of focalization: 7

• Inward focalization : The narrator tells the story from the subjective perspective of a focal character, revealing her inner thoughts and feelings as if he could somehow enter inside or read her mind. In the case of a first-person narrator, of course, focalization tends to be inward, even if the narrator might be speaking from the perspective of his younger or infant self, as in many autobiographical narratives, such as Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations . A third-person narrator, even one that is external to the storyworld, can also be inwardly focalized , when he adopts or tells the story from the subjective perspective of one of the characters. A classic example is Henry James’s novel The Ambassadors , narrated by an external narrator from the perspective or point of view of its protagonist, Lambert Strether.
• Outward focalization : The narrator tells the story without presuming to know or have access to the subjective perspective of any character, simply reporting what can be observed from the outside. When the narrator is internal to the storyworld, even if she doesn’t participate directly in the events of the story, outward focalization usually involves a certain degree of subjectivity, given that the narrator herself is a focal character. It is difficult in those cases to determine with precision whether the narration is outwardly or inwardly focalized. If the narrator is external, on the other hand, it is much simpler to sustain an outwardly focalized narration, where the narrator acts like a camera , recording everything that happens in the storyworld without entering the consciousness of any of the characters. Examples of this type of focalization can be found in Dashiell Hammett’s detective novels and short stories, such as The Maltese Falcon (Fig. 5.3).

Inward and outward focalization may be fixed throughout the narrative, as in the examples provided above. But focalization can also be variable , for example when the narrator alternates between inward and outward focalizations (e.g. Stendhal’s The Red and the Black ), or multiple, when the narrator uses different focal characters to tell the story (e.g. George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire ).

Fig. 5.3 Promotional still from the 1941 film The Maltese Falcon, published in the National Board of Review Magazine, p. 12. L-R: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Barton MacLane, Peter Lorre, and Ward Bond, Public Domain, https:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maltese-Falcon-Tell-the-Truth-1941.jpg

Another important aspect of narration, which is related (and often confused) with focalization, is the degree of knowledge that the narrator has about the existents of the storyworld, in particular about the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters. Here, we are implicitly asking the question ‘how much does the narrator know?’ In this sense, we can distinguish three types of narrators:

• Omniscient : The narrator is like a God of the storyworld, knowing everything about its existents, including the internal or psychological states of all characters and the unfolding of events. In this case, focalization is often variable and multiple, changing from outward to inward and from one character to another as the narrator thinks appropriate, which might give the impression that there is in fact no focalization at all. Many classic short stories and novels are narrated with this sort of God-like narrator, for example J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings .
• Limited : The narrator has only limited knowledge about the internal or psychological states of one or some of the existents in the storyworld. This is quite common in inwardly focalized fictions, where the narrator only knows what the focal character or characters think and perceive, while having no access to the consciousness of other characters. When the focal character is the narrator himself, as in first-person narratives, his perspective is generally limited. An example of this kind of narration may be found in Jorge Luís Borges’s short story “Funes the Memorious,” where an unnamed first-person narrator recounts his relationship with a man who remembers absolutely everything.
• Objective : The narrator has no knowledge about the internal or psychological states of any of the characters in the storyworld and can only report what can be observed from the outside. The perspective of an objective narrator, which tends to be outwardly focalized, can be compared to that of a movie camera. While both the camera and the objective narrator need to select and frame their perceptions, they can only record what can be externally perceived in the storyworld, but not what characters think or feel. Ernest Hemingway’s “The Killers” is a minimalist short story about a pair of criminals in a restaurant which is narrated with this kind of camera-eye perspective.

5.5 Telling and Showing

Already established in Classical poetics, particularly by Plato and Aristotle, the distinction between ‘telling’ ( diegesis ) and ‘showing’ ( mimesis ) can help to clarify key aspects of narrative discourse. Telling refers to the representation of the story through the mediation of a narrator , who gives an account and often interprets or comments on the events, environments, or characters of the storyworld. Showing , on the other hand, is the direct representation of the events, environments, and characters of the story without the intervention of a narrator, leaving readers or spectators to make their own inferences or interpretations.

The distinction between these two concepts is clear when we compare a story told by a third-person narrator (telling) and the same story represented as a dramatic play, with a stage imitating the environments, actors playing the characters, and events being enacted as if they were happening in the storyworld (showing). However, using this same pair of concepts to distinguish between different forms of narration is not so straightforward.

We have already seen that all narratives have a narrator, even if the narrator can adopt an outward focalization (e.g. camera-eye perspective) or even lack a perceptible narrative voice (e.g. the editor of a set of letters).

In this sense, all narration is a form of telling (diegesis), not showing (mimesis). But we have also seen that there can be different forms of narration. In some cases, the narrator conveys the words of characters using his own voice, as in “The detective claimed that he never suspected his girlfriend wanted to kill him.” In other cases, the narrator quotes the words that were supposedly spoken by the characters themselves, as in “‘How could I suspect she wanted to kill me?’ said the detective.” The first type of narration can be qualified as telling, while the second is a derived form of showing. In this case, the distinction is not based on the presence or absence of a narrator, but rather on his prominence or degree of involvement in the narration.

In prose fiction, telling and showing usually involve the use of two different narrative methods to represent the events of the plot:

• Summary : A summary narrates events by compressing their duration. For example, a narrator might tell about a long war by saying, “Battles were won and lost, many died, and at the end no one felt victorious.” A single sentence summarizes years of war, with all its battles and other significant events. In general, summary brings narration closer to the ideal of telling . In the same way that description is the telling of environments and characters, summary is the telling of events.
• Scene : A scene narrates a sequence of events in enough detail to create the illusion that they are unfolding in front of the narratee (and ultimately, the reader). Usually, the illusion is created by quoting dialogue in direct speech, intersected with brief descriptions of the environment and the characters, as well as some narration of the characters’ actions . This method, which is already found in Ancient epic, is called “in-scene storytelling” and seems to be inspired by drama, which has traditionally been considered the most lifelike method of representing a story (see Fig. 5.4). Thus, scene brings narration closer to the ideal of showing.

Fig. 5.4 Theatre scene: two women making a call on a witch (all three of them wear theatre masks). Roman mosaic from the Villa del Cicerone in Pompeii, now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Naples). By Dioscorides of Samos, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pompeii_-_ Villa_del_Cicerone_-_Mosaic_-_MAN.jpg

Despite the recurrent debates that oppose telling to showing, the fact is that both forms of narration are commonly found in most short stories and novels. Neither of them is superior to the other, and both have their own uses and limitations.

Ben’s Bonus Bit – Telling of Emotions

In the instruction of creative writing, novice writers are encouraged to avoid the direct telling of character emotions 8 . “John was sad,” for example, misses opportunity to reach in-scene storytelling. What behaviors do sad people exhibit? What posture, gestures, and other nonverbals display sadness? What things do sad people say? If the narration has an inward focalization, attached to John, what might he think other than “I am sad” that would reveal his blooming depression? Each choice to “show” preserves reader’s role as arbiter of meaning . Direct telling of character emotions runs the risk of infantilizing readers, robbing them of one of the principle pleasures of reading.

Of course, this is an over-simplification of a truism: that readers prefer showing to telling, in-scene storytelling to summary, and in medias res action to exposition . Telling of emotions exists prominently in didactic fiction, first-person narratives, and in epiphany moments. Some of the most memorable lines in fiction are “telling.” We have already mentioned the boy’s epiphany at the end of Joyce’s “Araby” (“ I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger “). Consider the opening lines of Ralph Ellison’s classic story (and novel chapter) “Battle Royal”: “ It goes a long way back, some twenty years. All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naive. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man!” Nary an in-scene moment to be found. All exposition, telling, symbolism, and internal focalization. Where is the significant, sensory detail that marks “good writing”? Truth is that strong prose contains a mixture of showing and telling, even if there are moments where narrators suppress readers’ “interpretive rights.”

For students of fiction, there’s real analytical hay to make out of distinguishing between showing and telling moments. Essays about point of view, focalization, narration, or even characterization occurring in the first-person may successfully speculate about reader response by considering how and when authors shift the interpretive burden to readers. Essays that make broad claims about “the reader” without the aid of textual analysis are invariably less successful.

 5.6 Commentary

Narrative discourse can do more than just tell a story through the voice of a narrator. It can also contain commentary , which consists of any pronouncement of the narrator that goes beyond a description or account of the existents of the story. While commentary, like the rest of narration, is expressed by the narrator’s voice, it can also include messages sent by the implied author to the implied reader through the narrator’s voice, even if the narrator is unaware of them. These moments can be critical in stories that otherwise emphasize “showing” via in-scene, linear, real-time storytelling. Commentary, which is certainly “telling,” may nudge readers toward consideration of theme.

There are two basic forms of commentary: explicit and implicit . 9 Explicit commentary is easier to recognize and understand, as it consists of a straightforward message found in the narration. There are three types of explicit commentary that the narrator can make about the story and one about the narration itself:

• Interpretation : the narrator explains the meaning, relevance, or significance of the existents in the storyworld. In Balzac’s series of novels The Human Comedy , for example, narrators often provide interpretations that contextualize and analyze the social implications of the various behaviors of the characters, almost like a sociologist would do
• Judgement : the narrator expresses a moral opinion or another form of personal evaluation of the existents in the storyworld. In Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones , for example, the narrator constantly gives his opinion about the events and characters of the story, in keeping with his moralizing intentions
• Generalization : the narrator extrapolates the existents of the story to reach general conclusions about his own world (or the lifeworld of the reader). This is most common in philosophical novels, such as Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being , where the narrator comments on the characters and reflects on the events in the novel by connecting them with philosophical notions or events in European history
• Reflection : the narrator comments on his own narration or other aspects of narrative discourse. This form of self-reflective commentary is already found in early examples of the novel, for instance in Cervantes’ Don Quixote , where the narrator often pauses to reflect on the task of narrating his story, particularly in the second part of the book, when he feels the need to defend his creation from a plagiarizer. Vladimir Nabokov, who we’ve already mentioned, uses this device frequently in both Lolita and Pale Fire . If reflection bleeds into discussion of the fiction as fiction, the device is metafiction .

Implicit commentary is a form of irony , a use of discourse to state something different from, or even opposite to, what is actually meant. The irony might be at the expense of the characters or at the expense of the narrator herself. Depending on which levels of narrative it crosses, we can distinguish two basic kinds of implicit commentary in prose fiction:

• Ironic narrator : the narrator makes a statement about the characters or events in the story that means something different, even the opposite, to what is being stated. Thus, the narrator is being ironic. In this case, the irony is at the expense of the characters in the story but can be understood by the narratee (and eventually by the reader). A classic example of this form of irony is the first sentence in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice : “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” In fact, the narrator thinks that this is far from a universal truth, except under the assumptions of a narrow-minded bourgeoisie—the kind of people worthy of Lizzy Bennet’s scorn—as is made clear in the rest of the novel
• Unreliable narrator : the narrator makes statements that contradict what the implied reader can know (or infer) to be the real intention or meaning of the narrative discourse. In this case, it is the implied author who is being ironic, by communicating indirectly with the implied reader at the expense of the narrator. The narrator in this case is said to be unreliable. 10 In Nikolai Gogol’s short story “Diary of a Madman,” for example, the narrator, a minor civil servant, becomes increasingly unreliable as he descends into madness, making statements whose irony (and comic effect) are only accessible to the implied reader (Fig. 5.5). Another celebrated example of an unreliable narrator is Gulliver in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels , where irony turns into satire , as the gullible narrator tells of his misadventures amongst exotic creatures without ever suspecting that they are meant to ridicule the absurdities and pretensions of human society.

Narrators may be unreliable because they are naive, ignorant, braggadocious, mad, or morally bankrupt . Pi Patel in Yan Martel’s The Life of Pi separates himself from reality in order to survive. Alex in Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange is deluded and lies to readers. Huck in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells readers that helping the runaway, Jim, is wrong. Implied readers know Huck, a child in antebellum times, is naive and indoctrinated by a racist society. Mark Twain, both the real author and the implied conception of him in the novel, counts on readers to see Huck’s naivete as part of a larger condemnation of slavery.

Fig. 5.5 Illustration of Nikolai Gogol’s short story ‘Diary of a Madman’ (1835) by Ilya Repin, Public Domain, https:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Repin_IE-Illustraciya-Zapiski- sumasshedshego-Gogol_NV4.jpg

Ben’s Bonus Bit – Abuse of “The Reader”

For students writing essays about narration, especially unreliable narration, the Narrative Model’s insistence on distinction between implied readers and real readers with modern lifeworlds is vital to acknowledging how readers’ values and attitudes change over time. Mark Twain’s implied reader of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is certainly quite different from you, a college student in the 21st century who is aware of post-Newtonian physics (Einstein, relativity, and quantum theory), DNA, vaccines, blood types, electronics, neuroscience, man’s impact on the environment in the Anthropocene, and all of the historical events inaccessible to literate 19th-century Americans. Your racial attitudes are almost certainly an order of magnitude more progressive and tolerant than even the most forward-thinking reader in 1884. Despite Samuel Clemens’ implied author’s compassion for Jim, Twain himself expressed a seemingly hypocritical racism towards Native Americans 11 .

The semiotic model encourages readers to avoid misuse of the ubiquitous “the reader,” which implies a monolithic, universal response to fiction, flattening legitimate difference in interpretation. The best essays engage with ambiguity in fiction, which naturally produces disagreement among readers. Indeed, your essay might not have reason to exist without interpretive dispute. Using “readers” instead of “the reader” is a small but generous concession that preserves student authors’ ability to make reader response claims while avoiding over-generalization or marginalization of minority voices. Even better is to draw distinction between the likely attitudes/reactions of implied readers (as imagined by a text’s author) and meaning-making by modern/current readers of different backgrounds. At the very least, student authors should consider and preempt alternative-but-plausible interpretations in Rebuttal Sections (often arriving just before a concluding paragraph or scattered throughout an essay). Just as it aids in avoiding the intentional fallacy, adopting the semiotic model in analyses prevents rhetorical missteps when considering the other end of the communication chain (receivers, or readers).

5.7 Summary

• An element of narrative discourse, narration is the communicative act between a narrator and a narratee that expresses or represents all the existents of the story (characters, events, and environments).
• Narrators (as well as narratees) can be external or internal to the story. Moreover, narrators can speak in the first , second , or third person . And they can narrate events that have already happened, have not yet happened, or are happening at the same time as they are being told.
• When telling a story, narrators can adopt the subjective perspective of one or more of the characters ( inward focalization ) or limit themselves to observable events without entering any of the characters’ consciousnesses ( outward focalization ).
• Similarly, narrators can know everything about the inner thoughts of characters and the unfolding of events ( omniscient ), or they can have only partial information about one or more of the characters ( limited ), or they can only know what can be perceived with the senses ( objective ).
• Depending on the prominence or degree of involvement of the narrator in the narration, we can distinguish two different narrative methods: telling ( summary ) and showing ( scene ).
• Beyond telling and showing, narrators can also make explicit and implicit commentary on the story, sometimes at the expense of characters ( ironic narrator ) or themselves ( unreliable narrator ).
• In essay writing about narration, avoid confusing authors (real and implied) from narrators and to avoid over-generalization of reader response (by using “readers” and including rebuttal ).

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Ignasi Ribó, Prose Fiction: An Introduction to the Semiotics of Narrative. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2019.  https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0187

Version History: Created new verso art. Added quick links. Bolded keywords. Made minor phrasing edits for American audiences. Adopted MLA style for punctuation. Changed paragraphing for PressBooks adaptation. Moved footnotes to endnotes. Added references to Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl,” Akwaeke Emezi’s “Muzik di Zumbi,” Yan Martel’s The Life of Pi , Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange , and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . Added vocabulary: in-scene storytelling and metafiction. Included “Ben’s Bonus Bits,” with a host of new vocabulary. Altered end-of-chapter Summary to include “Ben’s Bonus Bit” material, October, 2021.

Linked bolded keywords to Glossary and improved Alt-image text for accessibility, July, 2022.

• Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1983).
• Seymour Benjamin Chatman, Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000), pp. 147–51.
• Wolfgang Iser, The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995).
• Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics (London, UK: Routledge, 2002), pp. 94–97, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203426111
• See Gérard Genette, Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990), pp. 25–32.
• Rimmon-Kenan, pp. 90–102.
• Based on Genette, pp. 189–211.
• See “Showing and Telling” in Janet Burroway’s Writing Fiction .
• Chatman, pp. 228–60.
• Booth, pp. 149–68.
• See Joseph L. Coulombe, “Mark Twain’s Native Americans and the Repeated Racial Pattern in ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'” in American Literary Realism Vol. 33, No. 3 (Spring, 2001) , pp. 261-279 (19 pages).

Booth, Wayne C., The Rhetoric of Fiction (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1983).

Chatman, Seymour Benjamin, Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000).

Coulombe, Joseph L. “Mark Twain’s Native Americans and the Repeated Racial Pattern in ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'” in American Literary Realism Vol. 33, No. 3 (Spring, 2001) , pp. 261-279

Genette, Gérard, Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990).

Iser, Wolfgang, The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995).

Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith, Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics (London, UK: Routledge, 2002), https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203426111

The world of the story, which includes different types of existents (events, environments, and characters).

A change of state occurring in the storyworld, including actions undertaken by characters and anything that happens to a character or its environment. Also called a “plot point.”

Everything that surrounds the characters in the storyworld.

An entity with agency in a storyworld.

The figure of discourse that tells the story to a narratee.

The figure of discourse to whom a story is told by the narrator.

The means through which a narrative is communicated by the implied author to the implied reader.

The projection of the real author in the text, as can be inferred by the reader from the text itself.

The virtual reader to whom the implied author addresses its narrative, and whose thoughts and attitudes may differ from an actual reader.

A form of writing where two or more authors share creative control of the narrative.

A relevant meaning identified by an interpreter in narrative discourse.

From film studies, the perspective or point of view adopted by the narrator when telling the story.

The representation of a story through the mediation of a narrator, who gives an account and often interprets or comments on the events, environments, or characters of the storyworld.

The direct representation of the events, environments, and characters of a story without the intervention (or, in the case of narrative showing, with minimal or limited intervention) of a narrator.

Any pronouncement of the narrator that goes beyond a description or account of the existents of the storyworld.

Semiotic representation of a sequence of events, meaningfully connected by time and cause.

A literary device that embeds self-reflecting or recursive images to create paradoxical narrations (from French, ‘placed into an abyss’).

A narrator or narratee who is a figure of discourse but not an existent of the storyworld.

A narrator or narratee who, besides being a figure of discourse, is also an existent of the storyworld, particularly a minor or major character.

Narration from the subjective perspective or point of view of one or more focal characters.

Narration that avoids taking the subjective perspective or point of view of any of the characters.

A narrator who knows everything about the existents of the storyworld, including the internal or psychological states of all characters and the unfolding of events.

A narrator who has only limited knowledge about the internal or psychological states of one or some of the existents in the storyworld.

A narrator who has no knowledge about the internal or psychological states of any of the characters in the storyworld and can only report what can be observed from the outside.

A category of fiction where a story is recounted through narration. While all stories contain at least implied narrators, diegetic fiction “tells” through a distinct perspective.

A classification for literature that attempts to mimic the real world. Fiction that seeks verisimilitude.

The narrative representation of events by compressing their duration.

The narrative representation of an environment, set of characters, and sequence of events in enough detail to create the illusion that the events are unfolding in front of the narratee (and ultimately, the reader).

Use of discourse to state something different from, or even opposite to, what is meant.

A narrator who makes statements about the characters or events in the story that mean something very different, even the opposite, of what is being stated.

A narrator who makes statements that contradict what the implied reader knows (or infers) to be the real intention or meaning of the narrative discourse.

Similar to parody and caricature, a genre of fiction or a specific tone/mood in narrative that lampoons the status quo or powerful societal interests or people.

Prose Fiction Copyright © by Miranda Rodak and Ben Storey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Prose Fiction: An Introduction to the Semiotics of Narrative

(6 reviews)

Ignasi Ribó

Copyright Year: 2020

Publisher: Open Book Publishers

Language: English

Formats Available

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Reviewed by William Pendergast, Adjunct Professor/Coordinator, Bunker Hill Community College on 1/31/21

The book is a through account of the structure of narrative stories. It outlines all the elements that make a narrative successful in a critical writing sense. It defines the subject and breaks down the classic sense of drama throughout the ages... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book is a through account of the structure of narrative stories. It outlines all the elements that make a narrative successful in a critical writing sense. It defines the subject and breaks down the classic sense of drama throughout the ages of writing. It shows the narrative in a historical context and outlines the techincal construction process. It does an excellent job looking at the science of the writing process as it pertains to the narrative. It looks at beginnings, endings, genre's, literary devices and dialogue just to name a few. The difference between Prose vs. verse, Narrative vs. drama ;Novel, novella, or short story ;Adventure, fantasy, romance, humor, science-fiction, crime, etc.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found the books principles to be quite sound and presented in a very palatable manner. It starts with a useful definition of terms then goes into great depths to explain them. "For the purpose of this book, we will define narrative as the semiotic representation of a sequence of events, meaningfully connected by time and cause." This type of definition is a very dry and advanced level of learning as is much of the text.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

This text would be ideal for MFA creative writing program. Its explanation of the narrative is done in a way that would be more helpful to students who are becoming writers as opposed to readers. It is somewhat pedantic and really designed for an advanced student with excellent critical thinking skills. This text is not for a community college level student or even to be used with a college writing course in a typical university. This is a much more advanced text looking at the mechanics of the narrative as opposed to being a collection of stories.

Clarity rating: 4

I found the text to be very clear about the manner in which it presents its material. I feel that some students would have a difficult time with some of the concepts because they would be so unfamiliar with many of the terms used. I enjoyed all the graphs and flow charts showing dramatic arcs and structure. I also enjoyed the pictures that illustrations at marked the different moments in the history of the narrative.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is absolutely consistent in the manner in which it builds the formulation of the narrative. It starts defining it, then explaining the structure, and giving different examples of narratives in various genres. Then looking at significant works throughout history then looking at all the other literary devices that make a great piece of writing to a particular genre.

Modularity rating: 3

The text works in a commutative way. You could break up some of the later chapters if you were doing a workshop on things like dialogue, symbolism, foreshadowing and building characters.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

As a text for a student studying creative writing this is organized in a wonderful manner. It builds from a technical foundation about structure and drama then looks at more of the difference between the craft of writing and the art of it. It starts with Intro which is the definition and explanation of the narrative then plot, setting, characterization, and Language, et.

Interface rating: 5

I didn't find any interface issues. I thought the text reads nicely with the right amount of graphs and charts and pictures, that I thought enhanced the lessons in the text. Many of them were graphs I will use in class today to help students understand the dramatic arc in stories. The pictures showing historical moments help give context and break up the text from reading very dry.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

I didn't notice very many errors. Some American students might be put off by the use of British English in a lot of the spelling in the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The text has reference to many of the classics that will be unfamiliar to community college students and no current references really. Students who have studied writing will be familiar with the greek tragedies to the more "modern" classic examples in the text.

This is a fantastic text for a Creative Writing Student or an advanced student that is interested in becoming a writer. For the community college level student or comp student only certain chapters would be helpful to students. This is a text that an instructor could purchase and reframe the material and present to a class that isn't as advanced. I would absolutely buy this text and incorporate it into various levels of my instruction. I would take lessons and repurpose them for my developmental class and present the material as is for my creative writing students.

Reviewed by Luke Brown, Lecturer, Howard University on 1/21/21

The text approaches the question and possibilities of narrative from seven entry points (e.g., setting, language), including a general overview of major threshold concepts, terms, and approaches to narrative in the first chapter. read more

The text approaches the question and possibilities of narrative from seven entry points (e.g., setting, language), including a general overview of major threshold concepts, terms, and approaches to narrative in the first chapter.

I noticed no major issues with the quality of analysis.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The insights of the text will likely remain viable as long as we continue to have narratives; however, it does tend towards older, Euro-centric examples (e.g., Decameron, Oedipus Rex) and would benefit from more contemporary, multicultural exemplars.

Clarity rating: 3

The text does tend towards theoretical argot in its elaborations of core ideas (e.g., real vs. implied vs. ideal reader). While still legible, students may have difficulty following the nuances of the argument without corresponding classroom discussions of the material.

Consistency rating: 4

The text offers a wide range of possible theoretical entry points and frameworks. While none are mutually exclusive, there are more than a single course could likely apply.

Modularity rating: 5

The text approaches the question and possibilities of narrative from seven entry points (e.g., setting, language), including a general overview of major threshold concepts, terms, and approaches to narrative in the first chapter. The thoughtful arrangement of the chapters and subchapters allow instructors to select small excerpts for class instruction which can be taken out of context without an overall loss in meaning.

The overall organization of the text is a clear strength. It both builds on itself over the course of its seven major divisions and each of these divisions could be engaged with independently of the others.

I had no interface issues with this text.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I noticed no major grammatical oversights.

This text could be improved by moving away from centuries-old, Eurocentric examples and incorporating a wider range of classical and contemporary texts by writers of color and other marginalized groups.

I would recommend this book as a useful supplement to introductory courses focused on creative writing or literary analysis.

Reviewed by Kathryn Evans, Professor, Bridgewater State University on 6/30/20

The book is comprehensive in that it is broad, covering the bases of narrative; however, chapters tend to be brief (students will likely appreciate this, although we might wish for more examples in the form of actual quotations). The glossary... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book is comprehensive in that it is broad, covering the bases of narrative; however, chapters tend to be brief (students will likely appreciate this, although we might wish for more examples in the form of actual quotations). The glossary definitions are underdeveloped and do not necessarily illuminate the purposes of literary techniques discussed.

Content Accuracy rating: 2

Much of the book is accurate, although there are glaring omissions (e.g., Janet Burroway's co-authors are not listed, nor is the edition of the book noted; direct and indirect characterization are inaccurately described, as mentioned by other reviewers; the concept of genre is oversimplified; and interior monologue is not synonymous with stream of consciousness).

Many students will appreciate the references to Harry Potter throughout (a nice complement to the more historical and canonical works used to illustrate concepts and terms).

I found the book to be clearly written in general; sentences tend to be short, which many students may appreciate.

More examples in the form of quotations are used in later chapters compared to earlier chapters; it would be good to make this consistent throughout.

Most chapters, in my opinion, could be assigned out of sequence.

The book is well organized into chapters and clearly indicated sections.

The interface is impressively smooth; I found it easy to navigate. In addition, the author used a variety of images that were clear and useful (and clearly labelled).

The editing for grammar was excellent.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The examples used in the book do not represent a broad diversity of cultures / genders, but the author acknowledges that this lack of representation can be seen as an artifact of historical marginalization.

I would personally consider assigning some chapters; the author has clearly put significant time and thought into developing this book, and it is an impressive accomplishment. (On a more minor note, I would recommend that the author omit the section of the book that quotes Wikipedia, as that source is not generally regarded as being credible.)

Reviewed by Adam Mooney, Associate Lecturer, University of Massachusetts Boston on 6/30/20

The text offers tools for students to read and engage in critical discussion through a comprehensive discussion of narrative theory and narrative elements, including plot, characterization, language, theme, setting, and narration. The introduction... read more

The text offers tools for students to read and engage in critical discussion through a comprehensive discussion of narrative theory and narrative elements, including plot, characterization, language, theme, setting, and narration. The introduction serves as a succinct but expansive introduction to narrative theory, and the text is appropriate in terms of its scope. The text is admirable for its attention to concepts that get overlooked in narrative theory textbooks, including language and theme, and for its accessible and introductory-level approach, which is particularly suitable for early-level college students who may be unfamiliar with rhetorical concepts and terms for literary analysis. The text concludes with a comprehensive and effective glossary that is easy to use. Although the text lacks an index, which could have been helpful, the glossary alone was helpful as a reference tool.

The text relies well on seminal thinkers within narratology and narrative theory, and it provides accurate and objective terms for literary analysis. The text contains no notable errors.

In general, the text is relevant and up-to-date. It makes good use and offers a nice blend of seminal texts in narratology and literary theory (like Barthes and Abbott) and more recent publications on narratology and prose fiction. The text also uses 21st-century references to film and television (like Harry Potter and Game of Thrones), making it relevant and appropriate for young readers but risking potentially quick obsoletion. Indeed, the text relies almost exhaustively on Harry Potter as its "contemporary" example, despite that Harry Potter at this point is no longer relevant for many young students.

Clarity rating: 5

The text has a complex framework but approaches that framework with clarity and accessibility in mind as its primary goals. It explains complicated concepts in a clear and accessible manner. The text is especially successful in its essentialization—without risking the loss of integrity / depth of knowledge—of concepts like semiotic models of narratives. Indeed, one key benefit of the text, as an introduction for early-level college students, is its (self-admitted) avoidance of "overtly technical debates" within literary theory. Instead, the text prefers to streamline different key elements of narratological theory into a clear and simple framework.

The text aims to offer a "bare-bones presentation of narrative theory," and it is consistently successful in its goal to provide an easy-to-follow introduction for students without burdening them with excessive historical or theoretical details.

Modularity rating: 4

The text is designed to supplement a course but not dictate a course. It allows teachers the freedom to choose texts that they feel best reflect each chapter's main topic. Though the lack of examples for direct instruction can be seen as one drawback, the chapters are perfect for breaking into smaller sections in a course. The short length of chapters could also make for productive collaborative reading among students, where groups of students are assigned chapters and co-compose summaries or co-teach lessons based on the chapters.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The text is well-devised in its scope and structure. After a comprehensive introduction, the text moves to think about six different elements of narrative theory: plot, setting, characterization, narration, language, and theme. The first four or five chapters are meant to be the most accessible, and the final two are meant to respond to a gap in textbooks on narrative, which tend not to cover language and theme. Overall, the organization of the text is clear and helpful, and the development of chapters is logical. Within chapters, though, the progression between section--and especially the relationship between sections--is sometimes underexplained. In the introduction, for instance, the sections progress logically from “What Is Narrative?” to “Genres,” but the text fails to explain why the sections progress in this way, leaving the section on “Genres” to be under-contextualized for student readers.

Interface rating: 4

In terms of quality and clarity, the interface of this text is solid. Ribó’s own diagrams and charts are excellent—they are very helpful in explaining intricate and complex concepts, like the semiotic model of narrative. The external images used in the text are clear and attractive on the page, though the use of images and figures is somewhat disconnected from the text itself in that the images only offer superfluous perspectives that go unaddressed and underexplained in the prose. The least effective diagrams are the word clouds that begin each chapter. While these offer a succinct visualization of key terms, it is unclear where the word clouds come from, so words end up being more confusing than helpful, and they tend to capture unnecessary terms. For instance, the word "Fig" (presumably referring to "Figure") appears in the word cloud that accompanies the introduction. Elsewhere, there seems to be a mismatch between the word cloud and the chapter it accompanies. For instance, prior to Chapter 7, on theme, the word “narrative” appears at the center of the word cloud.

There are no glaring grammatical issues in the text. There may be minor grammatical errors, specifically in the use of commas, but my attention to this issue may be highlighted by my closer familiarity with grammar in U.S.-American English.

According to Ribó, this text is designed specifically for Asian students who don't have high familiarity with Western literature and literary theories in their high school education. In this sense, Ribó acknowledges in the preface the book's European focus and influence. He writes, "I have tried my best to expand the cultural range of examples in order to reflect the rich diversity of world literature. However, I am not entirely sure if I have succeeded in this effort, and most likely my explanations and examples are too heavily determined by the European tradition, which is, after all, my own." While this blind spot is acknowledged in the text, it is glaring when the text relies so heavily on a white Western canon, and it verges on cultural insensitivity in its reference to ethnicity as a “theme” in modern narrative, especially when it is only given one or two paragraphs’ worth of attention. Moreover, the text’s only substantial discussion of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity in literary theory is reduced to a few paragraphs at the end of the final chapter. Indeed, the text accounts mostly for a normative perspective; its list of "Examples of Short Stories and Novels" contains almost exclusively works by Western, and usually white, authors. Despite this book's many benefits, its lack of cultural, ethnic, racial, gender, and sexuality diversity is a glaring issue.

The text’s dedication to being a “bare-bones presentation of narrative theory”—that is, to not imposing on instructors’ choice of accompanying texts—at times makes for missed opportunities in terms of giving students accessible examples. For example, in Chapter 2, Ribó describes seven kinds of plots found often in novels and short stories. While Ribó offers specific examples—for instance, Hansel and Gretel as an example of the “overcoming the monster” plot—he misses a good opportunity to offer a modern example of the plot type as well, which would enable students to see narrative plot in older, traditional texts as aligned with plot devices that they may be more interested in or familiar with. Nonetheless, Prose Fiction is noteworthy and successful for its brief, accessible overview of important elements of narrative theory. I can very, very easily imagine this being adapted in literature classrooms smoothly and productively.

Reviewed by Thea Prieto, Adjunct Professor, Portland Community College on 6/24/20

Ribó sets out to create “a conceptual skeleton” of fiction writing, one that allows teachers to decide what readings to use in their classrooms. For a creative writing class, this means the textbook discusses various theories and craft elements of... read more

Ribó sets out to create “a conceptual skeleton” of fiction writing, one that allows teachers to decide what readings to use in their classrooms. For a creative writing class, this means the textbook discusses various theories and craft elements of fiction, as well as provides brief overviews of literary history. The textbook purposefully leaves out specific text samples, while at the same time referencing canonized or mainstream texts, so this textbook would work best as a teaching supplement. I believe introductory students would engage with the chapters regarding plot, setting, and characterization, and intermediate students would engage with the chapters regarding narration, language, and theme, as well as the glossary. Some of the terminology, concepts, and theories may be better discussed in advanced courses.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

The text is informed by an impressive number of craft anthologies and essays, though a majority of the works are by white, male writers (which Ribó acknowledges in the preface). Also, the definitions of story and discourse (Chapter 1), and the definitions of direct and indirect characterization (Chapter 4) differ from my understanding of the craft elements. This may be confusing to students, and students should be made aware of alternate definitions and/or applications.

Ribó references many canonized books, essays, and works of fiction, as well as a number of modern texts. The Harry Potter references will be hard to update, since they permeate the textbook, but the other modern references could be easily swapped out for more timely references, as well as with works by more diverse writers.

Most of the more complex concepts or terms were clearly defined in the text or in the glossary. However, there was some niche language that might ostracize beginning writers.

Consistency rating: 3

Ribó shares in the preface that he purposefully left out specific text samples and readings so the book would be a framework for teachers. The author is consistent in this way, though there are plenty of text references that still contextualize the framework.

Each chapter is broken into sections, and each section is short enough that they can be discussed in class. If the teacher is prepared to contextualize the textbook content, then the sections can be presented out of order.

Each chapter begins with theoretical knowledge, then shifts to practical applications or specific examples or topics, and concludes with a helpful summary and references page.

The eBook version was easy to navigate, and I appreciated the clickable table of contents. I would have liked specific terms to be linked to the glossary entries, and the exampled short stories/novels could be linked to their brief descriptions.

I did not notice any typos or errors.

In the preface, Ribó summarizes the dominance of white, male voices in the Western literary cannon, and he goes more in depth regarding postcolonialism and feminism in Chapter 7, particularly in terms of identity, ideology, morality, and art and politics. Early on he also explains that his examples are heavily determined by the European tradition, but considering the text’s overview of literary history and the importance of perspective in fiction writing, I would have liked to see more writers of color and writers from the LGBTQIA communities represented in the references.

The glossary of terms would be a useful Week 1 resource in my intermediate fiction courses.

Reviewed by Justina Salassi, Coordinator of General and Developmental Education/English Faculty, Central Louisiana Technical Community College on 4/29/20

The text covers its topic very well, giving relevant and easy to understand examples appropriate to second year students. As writing about literature is generally required in literature courses, it would have been helpful to provide some guidance... read more

The text covers its topic very well, giving relevant and easy to understand examples appropriate to second year students. As writing about literature is generally required in literature courses, it would have been helpful to provide some guidance on how students can apply the information provided in the text to writing topics, and how they are to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate literature through these lenses. Additionally, some of the terms and concepts (Classical poet, sign/signifier, etc.) I would not expect second year students to be familiar with were not immediately defined and are not included in the glossary.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The text is informed by seminal studies in narrative theory and related theories, as shown by the cited works. I found no inconsistencies in theory. However, the text presents direct and indirect characterization in the reverse of what is commonly taught. (In this book, indirect characterization is the explicit attribution of characteristics as told by the narrator and direct characterization is when characteristics are revealed through speech, thoughts, and actions of the character.) If this is a common misconception (of which I am not aware), the author should alert the reader of the misconception to fend off confusion between what is presented and what they might have been taught in the past.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The text uses both current and seminal sources and relevant, up to date examples.

In terms of clarity, the diction and style is accessible by students and most jargon is defined, with the exception of a few concepts and words that I feel could be more clearly defined in the text, or be included in the glossary (sign, signifier, alterity, etc.).

The framework is the theory of narratology, which is consistent throughout the text.

The text is divided logically into smaller sections, which are easily digestible. However, it would be difficult to present the chapters in a different order to students, as the chapters build on information found in previous chapters.

The organization is logical and presents concepts that build on each other. The end of chapter summaries are very useful. It would have been useful to indicate words that can be found in the glossary, or even provide links between the word and it's entry in the glossary since it is an ebook.

There were no interface issues that I noticed.

I noticed no grammatical issues. The text is very well written.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is very sensitive to cultural difference and is inclusive in its use of examples. The author provides an acknowledgment at the beginning of the predominance of Western Literature and the English language in literary tradition, but attempts to present it in a global context. The text includes the discussion of ideologies, oppression, and themes of identity and alterity.

This book would provide a good foundation for an introduction to fiction course.

Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 4. Characterisation
• 5. Narration
• 6. Language

Ancillary Material

About the book, about the contributors.

Ignasi Ribó (Ph.D. in Modern European Literature and Thought, University of Sussex) is a Catalan writer and scholar. He has been teaching Literary Theory and Semiotics at university level for more than ten years and currently works as a Lecturer in the School of Liberal Arts at Mae Fah Luang University (Chiang Rai, Thailand). Ignasi is the author of several novels, as well as academic essays on literary theory, comparative literature, ecocriticism, biosemiotics, cultural ecology, and environmental philosophy.

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What Is Prose In Writing? Find A Definition And Examples

As a creative writing teacher, a common question I get asked is “what is prose?” The term prose simply refers to spoken or written language. In the context of writing books, it describes a style of written words, distinct from poetry, numbers and metrics.

One of the biggest tasks many writers face is improving their ability to write prose. This guide offers the quickest and easiest solutions.

Below, we take a look at the different styles of writing prose, examples of each one, and advice from expert writers on getting better.

You can jump to the section you’re most interested in below:

Choose A Chapter

What is prose writing an easy definition, what are the main styles of prose, orwellian prose: the clear pane of glass, florid prose: the stained glass window, can you use a hybrid approach, examples of different styles of prose, 13 tips to help you write clear prose, learn more about writing prose, frequently asked questions (faq), join an online writing community.

So what is prose ?

It’s spoken or written language that does not rhyme or contain numbers. How we think, speak and write would be described as prose. When we write prose, we often apply a grammatical structure.

How Are Prose And Poetry Different?

Prose and poetry are different because poetry applies a rhythmic structure whereas prose follows a more standard mode of written language that follows natural speech patterns—an example being this very article you’re reading now.

Prose and poetry are therefore considered opposites.

What Is Purple Prose In Writing?

Purple prose is when a writer uses too many fancy words or describes things in a flowery, exaggerated way. It’s like adding too much frosting on a cupcake; it might look pretty, but it’s too much and can make it hard to enjoy.

There are a few main styles of writing prose. They are:

• Clear, concise prose, referred to as ‘Orwellian’, or the ‘clear pane of glass’, and;
• Florid, literary prose, referred to as the ‘stained glass window’.
• A hybrid of the two, which is an approach I favour. 

First, we’ll have a look at each, before looking at some examples.

If you’ve ever heard the phrase “good prose is like a window pane” and wanted to know the meaning behind it, here it is.

George Orwell in his essay, Politics and the English Language , set out what he thinks good prose writing ought to consist of, all the while attacking the British political system for the destruction of good writing practices.

Orwell was very much against the over-complication of language, which at the time (1946), was the direction politics was taking, and unfortunately still takes today.

Orwell believed prose should be like looking through a clear pane of glass at the story unfolding on the other side. It should be clear to understand. The writing should be invisible, drawing as little attention to itself as possible. The reader shouldn’t have to stop to re-read a sentence due to poor construction or stumble over a word used in the wrong way.

Words should be chosen because of their meaning, and to make them clearer, images or idioms, such as metaphors and similes, should be conjured. He encouraged the use of ‘newly invented metaphors’ which “assists thought by evoking a visual image”. Orwell encouraged writers to use the fewest and shortest words that will express the meaning you want.

“ Let the meaning choose the word.” 

If you can’t explain something in short, simple terms, you don’t understand it, was his argument. 

A change in the language used by politicians provoked Orwell to write his essay. Pretentious diction, as he called it—words such as phenomenon, element, objective, eliminate and liquidate—is used to dress up simple statements. He blamed politics for this, and how politicians adopt hollow words and phrases, mechanically repeating them over and over until they become meaningless.

I’m sure we can all agree we’re fed up of hearing such phrases. Orwell used ‘stand shoulder to shoulder’ as an example, and more recently we’ve seen Theresa May butcher the phrase ‘strong and stable’. These phrases are vague and bland and do not evoke any imagery, and if you’re a writer, they’re things you ought to avoid, Orwell argued.

Orwell’s Six Rules For Achieving Clear Prose

Orwell provided six rules to remember when writing prose. In following them, he argued, you could achieve clear prose that could be understood and enjoyed by all readers:

• Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print;
• Never use a long word where a short one will do;
• If it is possible to cut out a word, always cut it out;
• Never use the passive [voice] where you can use the active;
• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent;
• Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

So in summary, Orwellian prose is writing which is short, simple and understandable. And if you’re looking for a simple and effective method of how to write good prose, this is it.

They’re great guidelines to test out with short stories. With that type of narrative writing you need to make every word count, so they’re a great way to get used to them. It’s also a more preferred prose form among many literary agents, publishers , and editors.  

A Video Explainer On Orwellian Prose

If you’d like a more visual explainer on writing Orwellian prose, check out this brilliant video from bestselling author, Brandon Sanderson.

When we explore answers to the question, what is prose writing, one approach we inevitably turn to is the stained glass window—the antithesis to Orwell’s clear pane method.

With a stained glass window approach, you can still see the story on the other side, but the stained glass is colouring it in interesting ways. Language and structure are therefore florid and more creative. And it also tends to lean more heavily on the side of descriptive writing.

It’s used more in literary fiction and requires a mastery of language to pull off well. Brandon Sanderson refers to it as the artist’s style of prose, whereas Orwellian prose he regards as the craftsman’s style.

Above we mentioned the phrase ‘purple prose’. This is an attempt at creating a stained glass window, but the description and structure are poor , rendering the prose incomprehensible.

A blend of the clear pane and stained pane can work well. JRR Tolkien often adopted this, particularly with his descriptions, and other writers, Sanderson and David Gemmell to name but two, like to start chapters in a florid way before transitioning into the clear pane. Sometimes it can depend on the scene.

In fight scenes , for example, simple language is best adopted so the reader’s flow isn’t disrupted. When describing places, people or settings colourful language works well to liven up what would otherwise be quite mundane passages.

My personal preference is toward Orwellian prose writing. Writing should be clear and accessible to all. As writers, that’s what we want—to have our stories read and enjoyed by as many people as possible.

Having spent years working as a lawyer I know it’s not the case, and Orwell’s fears back in 1946 continue to materialise. In the end, I regarded my role as a lawyer as more of a translator of legal jargon. Writing shouldn’t be this way.

So we’ve taken a look at the different styles of prose writing. Now let’s take a look at some examples to better illustrate the different approaches. 

Examples Of A Clear Prose Style

One of my favourite writers of clear prose is Ernest Hemingway. His stories are immersive and gripping because they’re simple to follow. A clear pane of glass approach if ever there was one. 

Here’s an extract from Old Man And The Sea:

“He was happy feeling the gentle pulling and then he felt something hard and unbelievably heavy. It was the weight of the fish and he let the line slip down, down, down, unrolling off the first of the two reserve coils. As it went down, slipping lightly through the old man’s fingers, he still could feel the great weight, though the pressure of his thumb and finger were almost imperceptible.”

You can see here how clear the language is. “Imperceptible” may be the most difficult word used, but it almost doesn’t matter because what has come before it is so clear and vivid, we can picture the scene in our minds. 

Examples Of Flowery Prose

On the other side of the coin, we have flowery prose. One of my favourite writers of florid prose is JRR Tolkien. Some people find The Lord Of The Rings quite challenging to read when they first begin, and I was one of them, and it’s down to Tolkien’s unqiue voice. But once you grow accustomed to it, there’s something quite enchanting about it.

So to illustrate this style, here’s an extract from The Lord of The Rings (Book One):

So far in this guide on how to write prose, we’ve looked at the different approaches. Now we’re looking at the practical side of things—how we actually write great prose. Here are a few writing tips to help you achieve a clear style :

• Resist the temptation to get fancy . We all do it. Only the other day I was going through a story of mine with a friend. I’d written the phrase “after thrice repeating the words,” and he pulled me up on it, and rightly so. “Why not just say ‘after the third time’?” he asked. Simpler, more effective.
• Make good use of nouns and verbs, and refrain from indulging in adjectives and adverb s. Check out my 7 nifty editing tips which look at the impact too many adjectives and adverbs can have on your writing.
• Show don’t tell . This has cropped up a few times on the blog over the past few weeks, and for good reason. Telling the reader how a character feels is boring! Show it! 
• Behead the passive voice . Seek to use active verbs. But this can be harder than it looks. Check out my full guide to passive voice here.
• Use effective dialogue. You can find dialogue writing examples here 
• Try poetry and flash fiction . These facets of the craft will teach you the importance of each and every word. You’ll learn the power a single word can have, how it can provoke images, emotions or memories in the reader’s mind.
• Try using deliberate line breaks . Not only does this break up the wall of text to make it easier on the eye for the reader, it can help you emphasise key points as well as a structural device to build tension and suspense.
• Varying line lengths and sentence structure . This is a good one to help you build rhythm to your writing. Go back through your written prose and see how long each sentence is. If your sentences have similar strcutures, it can help to mix them up. Shorter sentences can help build suspense, longer sentences are useful for explanations and description. Keep this in mind as you go back through and edit, breaking up longer sentences into shorter ones or joining others together.  
• Cut out extraneous words. Remove unnecessary words that balloon sentences. Let’s look at some prose writing examples:

He quickly crossed to the opposite side of the road.

He crossed the road.

Remember Orwell’s rule: if you can cut out a word, do it. When it comes to writing clear prose, less is more . That’s a good guideline to remember.

• Be specific and concrete . Seek to conjure vivid images and avoid vague phrases. Orwell provides a wonderful example from the book Ecclesiastes of how specificity can create vivid images:

“… The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet the bread to the wise, nor yet the riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill …”

• Pay attention to sentence structure, a.k.a. syntax. Sentences of a similar structure disrupt the flow and creates an awful rhythm. Short sentences increase the pace as well as tension, are effective at hitting home points, or signalling a change in tone. A short sentence I’d say is one less than half a line. Be warned: do not overuse them. A short sentence packs a punch, and you don’t want to bludgeon your reader. For an example of short sentences used well, check out Anna Smith Spark’s debut novel The Court of Broken Knives . Then come the medium-length sentences—one to two lines—which keeps the pace at a steady level. Anything over two lines and I’d say that’s a pretty long sentence. Long sentences are useful for pieces of description, slowing the pace or reducing tension. You can even be clever and use them to throw the reader off-guard. Watch out for your use of commas too and keep an eye on syllables. Read your work aloud to reveal these problems.
• Trust your reader . At some stage, we’ve all been guilty of holding the reader’s hand. Seek to create intrigue by withholding details.
• Avoid clichés and be mindful of tropes . It cheapens your writing and gives the reader the impression of laziness.
• What am I trying to say?
• What words will express it?
• What image or idiom (a group of words that establish a meaning that a single word cannot) will make it clearer?
• Is the image/idiom fresh enough to have an effect?
• Could I put it more shortly?
• Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?

I’ve included a few other materials for you to further your reading.

Check out this English literature writing guide by the University of Edinburgh

If you’d like to study creative writing , check out this writing course offered by the University of East Anglia. If you’d like more resources like this, you can also check out my online writing classes .

To learn more about using the 5 senses in writing , which is a vital part of prose, check out this guide.

For some of the best tips around on writing a book for the first time , head here. You can find lots of brilliant advice for first time authors. 

A great way to improve your prose is by writing short stories . Head here for a complete guide

Learn about sensory language examples here which can immensely improve your prose.

And head here for advice on when to rewrite your story .

And for more on character development and how to write a plot , head here.

Prose relates to ordinary everyday speech, so it’s arguably easier to write than poetry. However, many writers fall into the trap of writing ‘purple prose’, which is easy to write but not very good to read.

Prose carries with it no formal or set structure. It does, however, apply the general principles of grammar. It often reflects common or conversational speech.

Prose means the ordinary, everyday language that’s spoken or written. It is often distinguished from poetry due to its lack of a rhythmic structure.

In writing, prose relates to any form of written work in which the general rules of grammar and structure are followed. This is distinct from poetry, which follows a more rhythmic structure.

In the context of writing, prose refers to words assembled in a way that we wouldn’t otherwise describe as poetry or non-rthymic.

Written in prose simply means that a piece of text has been written down in a non-rhythmic way.

There are two main types of prose style—George Orwell’s the clear pane of glass, and on the opposite end of the spectrum, the stained glass window. Orwell believed in clear and simple, plain language. The stained glass window, on the other hand, opts for a more florid style.

Thank you for reading this guide on how to write prose. Hopefully, this post has shed light on the mysteries of prose and how you can achieve that clear, readable style.

If you’d like more help with your writing or would like to connect with like-minded writers, why not join my online writing community. There are hundreds of us all sharing advice, tips, calls for submissions, and helping each other out with our stories.  We congregate on Facebook and Discord. To join, just click below. 

If you need any more help with your prose writing, get in contact .

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richiebilling

About author, related posts, how to write a premise for your story, brilliant adjectives to describe a person, adjectives that start with 'r', 14 comments.

Reblogged this on Richie Billing and commented:

For my 50th post I thought I’d take a look back at the past 5 or so months at what I’ve thrown out into the world for your enjoyment. I was going to share the most popular post to date, but instead I’ve decided to share my personal favourite—the one that’s helped me the most in researching and writing it. So here it is, my guide to writing Orwellian prose.

Thank you to everyone who’s so far subscribed to this blog. It means a hell of a lot. In the months to come I’ll be looking to giveaway more free content and of course keep the articles coming. Here’s to the next 50!

Guess I”m more George Orwel than John Milton … 🙂 Just one thing (from a Jesuit-trained Old Xav with penchant for Latin grammar) The Passive voice gets a lot of ‘bad press’ which IMHO is often undeserved. You use an Active verb when you’re doing somehing. But you still need a Passive verb when someone is DOInG SOMETHING to you! Also: it’s almost impossible to write a grammatical French sentence without using a Reflexive verb. The Reflexive (s’asseoir, ‘to sit’ OR se plaire, ‘to please’) is a variation on Passive. They also use what in English grammar is called the subjunctive Mood, particularly in speech and even when Grammar insists that an Active verb is required … you can’t trust the French! LOL

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Narrative Essay

Definition of narrative essay, difference between a narrative essay and a short story, elements of a narrative essay, how to choose a topic for narrative essay, mla and apa formats in narrative essay, reflective narrative essay, examples of narrative essays in literature, example #1:  new directions (by maya angelou).

“Annie, over six feet tall, big-boned, decided that she would not go to work as a domestic and leave her “precious babes” to anyone else’s care. There was no possibility of being hired at the town’s cotton gin or lumber mill, but maybe there was a way to make the two factories work for her. In her words, “I looked up the road I was going and back the way I come, and since I wasn’t satisfied, I decided to step off the road and cut me a new path.” She told herself that she wasn’t a fancy cook but that she could “mix groceries well enough to scare hungry away and keep from starving a man.”

Example #2: Saturday Evening Post (by Russell Baker)

“When I burst in that afternoon she was in conference with an executive of the Curtis Publishing Company. She introduced me. He bent low from the waist and shook my hand. Was it true as my mother had told him, he asked, that I longed for the opportunity to conquer the world of business? My Mother replied that I was blessed with a rare determination to make something of myself. ‘That’s right,’ I whispered. ‘But have you got the grit, the character, the never-say-quit spirit it takes to succeed in business?’ My Mother said I certainly did.”

Example #3: Only Daughter (by Sandra Cisneros)

“Once several years ago, when I was just starting out my writing career, I was asked to write my own contributor’s note for an anthology I was part of, I wrote: ‘ I am the only daughter in a family of six sons. That explains everything.’ “Well, I’ve thought about that ever since, and yes, it explains a lot to me, but for the reader’s sake I should have written: ‘I am the only daughter in a Mexican family of six sons.’ Or even: ‘I am the only daughter of a Mexican father and a Mexican-American mother.’ Or: ‘I am the only daughter of a working-class family of nine.’ All of these had everything to do with who I am today.”

Function of Narrative Essay

Synonyms of narrative essay, related posts:, post navigation.

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What is Prose — Definition and Examples in Literature

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P rose can be a rather general literary term that many use to describe all types of writing. However, prose by definition pertains to specific qualities of writing that we will dive into in this article. What is the difference between prose and poetry and what is prose used for? Let’s define this essential literary concept and look at some examples to find out.

What is Prose in Literature?

First, let’s define prose.

Prose is used in various ways for various purposes. It's a concept you need to understand if your goal to master the literary form. Before we dive in, it’s important to understand the prose definition and how it is distinguished from other styles of writing. 

PROSE DEFINITION

What is prose.

In writing, prose is a style used that does not follow a structure of rhyming or meter. Rather, prose follows a grammatical structure using words to compose phrases that are arranged into sentences and paragraphs. It is used to directly communicate concepts, ideas, and stories to a reader. Prose follows an almost naturally verbal flow of writing that is most common among fictional and non-fictional literature such as novels, magazines, and journals.

Four types of prose:

Nonfictional prose, fictional prose, prose poetry, heroic prose, prose meaning , prose vs poetry.

To better understand prose, it’s important to understand what structures it does not follow which would be the structure of poetry. Let’s analyze the difference between prose vs poetry.

Poetry follows a specific rhyme and metric structure. These are often lines and stanzas within a poem. Poetry also utilizes more figurative and often ambiguous language that purposefully leaves room for the readers’ analysis and interpretation.

Finally, poetry plays with space on a page. Intentional line breaks, negative space, and varying line lengths make poetry a more aesthetic form of writing than prose. 

Take, for example, the structure of this [Why] by E.E. Cummings. Observe his use of space and aesthetics as well as metric structure in the poem. 

E.E. Cummings Poem

E.E. Cummings may be one of the more stylish poets when it comes to use of page space. But poetry is difference in structure and practice than prose. 

Prose follows a structure that makes use of sentences, phrases, and paragraphs. This type of writing follows a flow more similar to verbal speech and communication. This makes it the best style of writing to clearly articulate and communicate concepts, events, stories, and ideas as opposed to the figurative style of poetry.

What is Prose in Literature? 

Take, for example, the opening paragraph of JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye . We can tell immediately the prose is written in a direct, literal way that also gives voice to our protagonist . 

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

From this example, you can see how the words flow more conversationally than poetry and is more direct with what information or meaning is being communicated. Now that you understand the difference between poetry, let’s look at the four types of prose.

Related Posts

• What is Litotes — Definition and Examples →
• Different Types of Poems and Poem Structures →
• What is Iambic Pentameter? Definition and Examples →

Prose Examples

Types of prose.

While all four types of prose adhere to the definition we established, writers use the writing style for different purposes. These varying purposes can be categorized into four different types.

Nonfictional prose is a body of writing that is based on factual and true events. The information is not created from a writer’s imagination, but rather true accounts of real events. 

This type can be found in newspapers, magazines, journals, biographies, and textbooks. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl , for example, is a work written in nonfictional style.

Unlike nonfictional, fictional prose is partly or wholly created from a writer’s imagination. The events, characters, and story are imagined such as Romeo and Juliet , The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , or Brave New World . This type is found as novels, short stories, or novellas .

Heroic prose is a work of writing that is meant to be recited and passed on through oral or written tradition. Legends, mythology, fables, and parables are examples of heroic prose that have been passed on over time in preservation. 

Finally, prose poetry is poetry that is expressed and written in prose form. This can be thought of almost as a hybrid of the two that can sometimes utilize rhythmic measures. This type of poetry often utilizes more figurative language but is usually written in paragraph form. 

An example of prose poetry is “Spring Day” by Amy Lowell. Lowell, an American poet, published this in 1916 and can be read almost as hyper short stories written in a prose poetry style. 

The first section can be read below: 

The day is fresh-washed and fair, and there is a smell of tulips and narcissus in the air.

The sunshine pours in at the bath-room window and bores through the water in the bath-tub in lathes and planes of greenish-white. It cleaves the water into flaws like a jewel, and cracks it to bright light.

Little spots of sunshine lie on the surface of the water and dance, dance, and their reflections wobble deliciously over the ceiling; a stir of my finger sets them whirring, reeling. I move a foot, and the planes of light in the water jar. I lie back and laugh, and let the green-white water, the sun-flawed beryl water, flow over me. The day is almost too bright to bear, the green water covers me from the too bright day. I will lie here awhile and play with the water and the sun spots.

The sky is blue and high. A crow flaps by the window, and there is a whiff of tulips and narcissus in the air."

While these four types of prose are varying ways writers choose to use it, let’s look at the functions of them to identify the strengths of the writing style. 

What Does Prose Mean in Writing

Function of prose in literature.

What is prose used for and when? Let’s say you want to tell a story, but you’re unsure if using prose or poetry would best tell your story.

To determine if the correct choice is prose, it’s important to understand the strengths of the writing style. 

Direct communication

Prose, unlike poetry, is often less figurative and ambiguous. This means that a writer can be more direct with the information they are trying to communicate. This can be especially useful in storytelling, both fiction and nonfiction, to efficiently fulfill the points of a plot.

Curate a voice

Because prose is written in the flow of verbal conversation, it’s incredibly effective at curating a specific voice for a character. Dialogue within novels and short stories benefit from this style.

Think about someone you know and how they talk. Odds are, much of their character and personality can be found in their voice.

When creating characters, prose enables a writer to curate the voice of that character. For example, one of the most iconic opening lines in literature informs us of what type of character we will be following.

Albert Camus’ The Stranger utilizes prose in first person to establish the voice of the story’s protagonist. 

“Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure. The telegram from the Home says: YOUR MOTHER PASSED AWAY. FUNERAL TOMORROW. DEEP SYMPATHY. Which leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday.”

Build rapport with the reader

Lastly, in addition to giving character’s a curated voice, prose builds rapport with the reader. The conversational tone allows readers to become familiar with a type of writing that connects them with the writer. 

A great example of this is Hunter S. Thompson’s Hell’s Angels . As a nonfiction work written in prose, Thompson’s voice and style in the writing is distinct and demands a relationship with the reader.

Whether it is one of contradiction or agreement, the connection exists through the prose. It is a connection that makes a reader want to meet or talk with the writer once they finish their work. 

Prose is one of the most common writing styles for modern writers. But truly mastering it means understanding both its strengths and its shortcomings. 

Different Types of Poems

Curious about learning about the counterpart to prose? In our next article we dive in different types of poems as well as different types of poem structures. Check out the complete writer’s guide to poetry types up next. 

Up Next: Types of Poems →

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Narrative Definition

What is narrative? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

A narrative is an account of connected events. Two writers describing the same set of events might craft very different narratives, depending on how they use different narrative elements, such as tone or  point of view . For example, an account of the American Civil War written from the perspective of a white slaveowner would make for a very different narrative than if it were written from the perspective of a historian, or a former slave.

Some additional key details about narrative:

• The words "narrative" and "story" are often used interchangeably, and with the casual meanings of the two terms that's fine. However, technically speaking, the two terms have related but different meanings.
• The word "narrative" is also frequently used as an adjective to describe something that tells a story, such as narrative poetry.

How to Pronounce Narrative

Here's how to pronounce narrative: nar -uh-tiv

Narrative vs. Story vs. Plot

In everyday speech, people often use the terms "narrative," "story," and "plot" interchangeably. However, when speaking more technically about literature these terms are not in fact identical. 

• A story refers to a sequence of events. It can be thought of as the raw material out of which a narrative is crafted.
• A plot refers to the sequence of events, but with their causes and effects included. As the writer E.M. Forster put it, while "The King died and the Queen died" is a story (i.e., a sequence of events), "The King died, and then the Queen died of grief" is a plot.
• A narrative , by contrast, has a more broad-reaching definition: it includes not just the sequence of events and their cause and effect relationships, but also  all of the decisions and techniques that impact how a story is told. A narrative is  how a given sequence of events is recounted.

In order to fully understand narrative, it's important to keep in mind that most sequences of events can be recounted in many different ways. Each different account is a separate narrative. When deciding how to relay a set of facts or describe a sequence of events, a writer must ask themselves, among other things:

• Which events are most important?
• Where should I begin and end my narrative?
• Should I tell the events of the narrative in the order they occurred, or should I use flashbacks or other techniques to present the events in another order?
• Should I hold certain pieces of information back from the reader?
• What point of view  should I use to tell the narrative?

The answers to these questions determine how the narrative is constructed, so they have a huge influence on the way a reader sees or understands what they're reading about. The same series of events might be read as happy or sad, boring or exciting—all depending on how the narrative is constructed. Analyzing a narrative just means examining how it is constructed and why it is constructed that way.

Narrative Elements

Narrative elements   are the tools writers use to craft narratives. A great way to approach analyzing a narrative is to break it down into its different narrative elements, and then examine how the writer employs each one. The following is a summary of the main elements that a writer might use to build his or her narrative.

• For example, a story about a crime told from the perspective of the victim might be very different when told from the perspective of the criminal.
• For instance, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway were friends, and they wrote during the same era, but their writing is very different from one another because they have markedly different  voices.
• For example, Jonathan Swift's essay " A Modest Proposal " satirizes the British government's callous indifference toward the famine in Ireland by sarcastically suggesting that cannibalism could solve the problem—but the essay would have a completely different meaning if it didn't have a sarcastic tone. 
• For example, the first half of Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield tells the story of the narrator David Copperfield's early childhood over the course of many chapters; about halfway through the novel, David quickly glosses over some embarrassing episodes from his teenage years (unfortunate fashion choices and foolish crushes); the second half of the novel tells the story of his adult life. The pacing give readers the sense that David's teen years weren't really that important. Instead, his childhood traumas, the challenges he faced as a young man, and the relationships he formed during both childhood and adulthood make up the most important elements of the novel.
• For example, Mary Shelley's novel   Frankenstein  uses three different "frames" to tell the story of Dr. Frankenstein and the creature he creates: the novel takes the form of letters written by Walton, an arctic explorer; Walton is recounting a story that Dr. Frankenstein told him; and as part of his story, Dr. Frankenstein recounts a story told to him by the creature. 
• Linear vs. Nonlinear Narration:  You may also hear the word narrative used to describe the order in which a sequence of events is recounted. In a linear narrative, the events of a story are described  chronologically , in the order that they occurred. In a nonlinear narrative, events are described out of order, using flashbacks or flash-forwards, and then returning to the present. In some nonlinear narratives, like Ken Kesey's  Sometimes a Great Notion , there is a clear sense of when the "present" is: the novel begins and ends with the character Viv sitting in a bar, looking at a photograph. The rest of the novel recounts (out of order) events that have happened in the distant and recent past. In other nonlinear narratives, it may be difficult to tell when the "present" is. For example, in Kurt Vonnegut's novel  Slaughterhouse-Five , the character Billy Pilgrim, seems to move forward and backward in time as a result of post-traumatic stress. Billy is not always certain if he is experiencing memories, flashbacks, hallucinations, or actual time travel, and there are inconsistencies in the dates he gives throughout the book—all of which of course has a huge impact on how  his stories are relayed to the reader.

Narrative as an Adjective

It's worth noting that the word "narrative" is also frequently used as an adjective to describe something that tells a story.

• Narrative Poetry: While some poetry describes an image, experience, or emotion without necessarily telling a story, narrative poetry is poetry that does tell a story. Narrative poems include epic poems like The Iliad , The Epic of Gilgamesh , and Beowulf .  Other, shorter examples of narrative poetry include "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carrol, "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred Lord Tennyson, "The Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti, and "The Glass Essay," by Anne Carson.
• Narrative Art: Similarly, the term "narrative art" refers to visual art that tells a story, either by capturing one scene in a longer story, or by presenting a series of images that tell a longer story when put together. Often, but not always, narrative art tells stories that are likely to be familiar to the viewer, such as stories from history, mythology, or religious teachings. Examples of narrative art include Michelangelo's painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the  Pietà ; Paul Revere's engraving entitled  The Bloody Massacre ; and Artemisia Gentileschi's painting  Judith Slaying Holofernes .

Narrative Examples

Narrative in  the book thief  by markus zusak.

Zusak's novel,  The Book Thief , is narrated by the figure of Death, who tells the story of Liesel, a girl growing up in Nazi Germany who loves books and befriends a Jewish man her family is hiding in their home. In the novel's prologue, Death says of Liesel:

Yes, often, I am reminded of her, and in one of my vast array of pockets, I have kept her story to retell. It is one of the small legion I carry, each one extraordinary in its own right. Each one an attempt—an immense leap of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it.

Narrators do not always announce themselves, but Death introduces himself and explains that he sees himself as a storyteller and a repository of the stories of human lives. Choosing Death (rather than Leisel) as the novel's narrator allows Zusak to use Liesel's story to reflect on the power of stories and storytelling more generally.

Narrative in  A Visit From the Goon Squad   by Jennifer Egan

In A Visit From the Good Squad ,  Egan structures the narrative of her novel in an unconventional way: each chapter stands as a self-contained story, but as a whole, the individual episodes are interconnected in such a way that all the stories form a single cohesive narrative. For example, in Chapter 2, "The Gold Cure," we meet the character Bennie, a middle-aged music producer, and his assistant Sasha:

"It's incredible," Sasha said, "how there's just nothing there." Astounded, Bennie turned to her…Sasha was looking downtown, and he followed her eyes to the empty space where the Twin Towers had been. 

Because there is an empty space where the Twin Towers had been, the reader knows that this dialogue is taking place some time after the September 11th, 2001 attack in which the World Trade Center was destroyed. Bennie appears again later in the novel, in Chapter 6, "X's and O's," which is set ten years prior to "The Gold Cure." "X's and O's" is narrated by Bennie's old friend, Scotty, who goes to visit Bennie at his office in Manhattan:

I looked down at the city. Its extravagance felt wasteful, like gushing oil or some other precious thing Bennie was hoarding for himself, using it up so no one else could get any. I thought: If I had a view like this to look down on every day, I would have the energy and inspiration to conquer the world. The trouble is, when you most need such a view, no one gives it to you.

Just as Sasha did in Chapter 2, Scotty stands with Bennie and looks out over Manhattan, and in both passages, there is a sense that Bennie fails to notice, appreciate, or find meaning in the view. But the reader wouldn't have the same experience if the story had been told in chronological order.

Narrative in Atonement by Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan's novel Atonement tells the story of Briony, a writer who, as a girl, sees something she doesn't understand and, based on this faulty understanding, makes a choice that ruins the lives of Celia, her sister, and Robbie, the man her sister loves. The first part of the novel appears to be told from the perspective of a third-person omniscient narrator; but once we reach the end of the book, we realize that we've read Briony's novel, which she has written as an act of atonement for her terrible mistake. Near the end of  Atonement , Briony tells us:

I like to think that it isn’t weakness or evasion, but a final act of kindness, a stand against oblivion and despair, to let my lovers live and to unite them at the end. I gave them happiness, but I was not so self-serving as to let them forgive me. Not quite, not yet. If I had the power to conjure them at my birthday celebration…Robbie and Cecilia, still alive, sitting side by side in the library…

In Briony's novel, Celia and Robbie are eventually able to live together, and Briony visits them in an attempt to apologize; but in real life, we learn, Celia and Robbie died during World War II before they could see one another again, and before Briony could reconcile with them. By inviting the reader to imagine a happy ending, Briony effectively heightens the tragedy of the events that actually occurred. By choosing Briony as his narrator, and by framing the novel Briony wrote with her discussion of her own novel, McEwan is able to create multiple interlacing narratives, telling and retelling what happened and what might have been.

Narrative in Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, a World War II veteran who survived the bombing of Dresden, and has since “come unstuck in time.” The novel uses flashbacks and flash-forwards, and is narrated by an unreliable narrator who implies to the reader that the narrative he is telling may not be entirely true:

All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true. One guy I knew really was shot in Dresden for taking a teapot that wasn’t his. Another guy I knew really did threaten to have his personal enemies killed by hired gunmen after the war. And so on. I’ve changed all the names.

The narrator’s equivocation in this passage suggests that even though the story he is telling may not be entirely factually accurate, he has attempted to create a narrative that captures important truths about the war and the bombing of Dresden. Or, maybe he just doesn’t remember all of the details of the events he is describing. In any case, the inconsistencies in dates and details in Slaughterhouse-Five  give the reader the impression that crafting a single cohesive narrative out of the horrific experience of war may be too difficult a task—which in turn says something about the toll war takes on those who live through it.

What's the Function of Narrative in Literature?

When we use the word "narrative," we're pointing out that who tells a story and how that person tells the story influence how the reader understands the story's meaning. The question of what purpose narratives serve in literature is inseparable from the question of why people tell stories in general, and why writers use different narrative elements to shape their stories into compelling narratives. Narratives make it possible for writers to capture some of the nuances and complexities of human experience in the retelling of a sequence of events.

In literature and in life, narratives are everywhere, which is part of why they can be very challenging to discuss and analyze. Narrative reminds us that stories do not only exist; they are also made by someone, often for very specific reasons. And when you analyze narrative in literature, you take the time to ask yourself why a work of literature has been constructed in a certain way.

Other Helpful Narrative Resources

• Etymology: Merriam-Webster describes the origins and history of usage of the term "narrative."
• Narrative Theory: Ohio State University's "Project Narrative" offers an overview of narrative theory.
• History and Narrative:  Read more about the similarities between historical and literary narratives in Hayden White's  Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in 19th-Century Europe.
• Narrative Art: This article from Widewalls explores narrative art and discusses what kind of art doesn't  tell stories. 

• Point of View
• Red Herring
• External Conflict
• Figure of Speech
• Tragic Hero
• Round Character
• Flat Character
• Onomatopoeia

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

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1. Introduction

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Prose Fiction

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1 In one form or another, stories are part of everyone’s lives. We are constantly telling each other stories, usually about events that happen to us or to people we know. These are usually not invented stories, but they are stories nonetheless. And we would not be able to make sense of our world and our lives without them.

2 We also enjoy reading, watching, or listening to stories that we know are not true, but whose characters, places, and events spark our imagination and allow us to experience different worlds as if they were our own. These are the kind of stories we call ‘fiction.’ Many people like to watch series or soap operas on TV. And even more people like to watch movies, whether in the cinema or streamed to their laptop or smartphone. Video games, comics and manga, songs and musicals, stage plays, and YouTube blogs, they all tell stories in their own ways. But if there is one medium that has shown itself particularly well-suited to tell engaging and lasting stories throughout the ages, it is written language. It is fair to say, then, that stories, and most particularly fictions, in their various forms and genres, constitute the backbone of literature.

3 In this chapter, we will introduce some basic ideas about storytelling, and in particular about the narrative forms of literature and the ways in which they create meaning. We will also present the main genres into which literary narratives have been divided historically, and how these genres have evolved from their origins until today. We will then try to define and frame the two genres of prose fiction that are more common nowadays and from which we will draw the examples in this textbook: short stories and novels.

4 Not everyone approaches these genres in the same way. Here, we will follow a semiotic model to study and interpret narrative structure and meaning. In order to understand this model, it is essential to grasp the distinction between story and discourse, which will guide our discussions throughout the book. To conclude this chapter, we will consider how short stories and novels spread beyond the written word and become interconnected with other media in contemporary culture.

1.1 What Is Narrative?

5 Narrative is notoriously difficult to define with precision. But even before we attempt a working definition of the concept, we already know that it refers to storytelling. The term itself comes from the Latin word narro , which means ‘to tell.’In English, to narrate means to tell a story. According to many anthropologists, this ability is universal amongst human beings. 1 All peoples, everywhere and throughout history, tell each other stories, or, as they are technically called, narratives. As the semiotician and literary critic Roland Barthes once wrote,

The narratives of the world are numberless. Narrative is first and foremost a prodigious variety of genres, themselves distributed amongst different substances — as though any material were fit to receive man’s stories. Able to be carried by articulated language, spoken or written, fixed or moving images, gestures, and the ordered mixture of all these substances; narrative is present in myth, legend, fable, tale, novella, epic, history, tragedy, drama, comedy, mime, painting, stained-glass windows, cinema, comics, news items, conversation. Moreover, under this almost infinite diversity of forms, narrative is present in every age, in every place, in every society; it begins with the very history of mankind and there has never been a people without narrative. All classes, all human groups, have their narratives, enjoyment of which is very often shared by men with different, even opposing, cultural backgrounds. Caring nothing for the division between good and bad literature, narrative is international, transhistorical, transcultural: it is simply there, like life itself. 2

6 For the purpose of this book, we will define narrative as the semiotic representation of a sequence of events, meaningfully connected by time and cause. 3 This definition highlights certain key elements shared by all forms of narrative:

Narratives are semiotic representations , that is, they are made of material signs (written or spoken words, moving or still images, etc.) which convey or stand for meanings that need to be decoded or interpreted by the receiver.

Narratives present a sequence of events , that is, they connect at least two events (actions, happenings, incidents, etc.) in a common structure or organised whole.

Narratives connect events by time and cause , that is, they organise the sequence of events based on their relationship in time (‘Hear the sweet cuckoo. Through the big-bamboo thicket, the full moon filters.’ 4 ), as cause and effect (‘Into the old pond, a frog suddenly plunges. The sound of water.’ 5 ), or, in most narratives, by both temporal and causal relationships.

Narratives are meaningful , that is, they have meaning for both senders and receivers, although these meanings do not need to be the same.

7 As this definition suggests, narrative is the fundamental way in which we humans make sense of our existence. Without effort, we connect everything that happens in our lifeworld (events) as a temporal or causal sequence, and most often as both. In order to understand our lives and the world around us, we need to tell ourselves and each other meaningful stories. Even our perception of things that appear to be static inevitably involves making up stories. 6 Are you able to look at the picture in Figure 1.1 below without seeing a connected sequence of events, a narrative, in it?

Fig. 1.1 Collision of Costa Concordia, cropped (2012).

By Roberto Vongher, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Collision_of_Costa_Concordia_5_crop.jpg

8 Genres are conventional groupings of texts (or other semiotic representations) based on certain shared features. These groupings, which have been used since ancient times by writers, readers, and critics, serve a variety of functions:

Classification : By identifying the features that are worthy of attention, genres help us to place a particular text among similar texts and distinguish it from most other texts.

Prescription : Genres institute standards and rules that guide writers in their work. Sometimes these rules are actively enforced (normative genres), while at other times they act simply as established customs.

Interpretation : These same standards and rules help readers to interpret texts, by providing them with shared conventions and expectations about the different texts they might encounter.

Evaluation : Critics also use these standards and rules when they set about judging the artistic quality of a text, by comparing it with other texts in the same genre.

9 Already in Ancient Greece and Rome, narrative was a major literary genre ( epic ), distinct from poetic song ( lyric ) and stage performance ( drama ). Other generic classifications, particularly those related to the content of the story (tragedy, comedy, pastoral, satire, etc.), were also commonly used. But the basic classification of poetic forms at the time, established by Plato and Aristotle, was based on whether the poet told the story ( diegesis ) or the story was represented or imitated by actors ( mimesis ).

10 While Classical and Neoclassical poetics thought of genres as fixed and preordained forms that poets needed to abide by, modern literary theory, starting with the Romantic period, has come to see genres as dynamic and loosely defined conventions. Genres change and evolve through time. Different cultures define and institute different genres. In fact, modern literature has seen a significant expansion of genres, as a visit to any bookstore or online bookseller will attest (see Fig. 1.2).

11 Genres are continuously evolving across many different dimensions, such as content, style, form, etc. They are often organised at different levels of subordination, in hierarchies or taxonomies of genres and subgenres. Nowadays, for example, the following generic distinctions are commonly used to classify stories:

Fiction vs. nonfiction (based on whether the events and the characters of the story are invented or taken from reality).

Prose vs. verse (based on the literary technique used to tell the story).

Narrative vs. drama (based on whether the story is told or shown).

Novel, novella, or short story (based on the length of the story).

Adventure, fantasy, romance, humour, science-fiction, crime, etc. (based on the content of the story).

Fig. 1.2 El Ateneo Gran Splendid. A theatre converted into a bookshop. Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Photo by Galio, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buenos_Aires_-_Recoleta_-_El_Ateneo_ex_Grand_Splendid_2.JPG

12 These and many other generic classifications allow us to impose some order on the vast number of stories that are published every year. But they are not set in stone and are certainly not eternal. Following the disposition of writers, readers, and critics, new genres appear and disappear, often combining the characteristics of previous texts or developing from the ambiguous boundaries of existing genres, as with the blending of ‘fact’ and ‘fiction’ into ‘faction’ (or nonfiction novel). 7 There is little doubt that novels and short stories are the most popular narrative fiction genres in contemporary literature. Like all genres, however, they appeared at some point in history and will only last as long as people are interested in writing and reading them.

1.3 Prose Fiction

13 Prose is text written or spoken with the pattern of ordinary or everyday language, without a metrical structure. Verse, on the other hand, is written or spoken with an arranged metrical rhythm, and often a rhyme. While narrative fiction composed in verse was very common in the past, modern writers overwhelmingly tell their stories in prose, to the point that most readers today would be baffled if they encountered fiction written in verse.

14 By far, the most popular genres of prose fiction nowadays are novels and short stories. The distinction between the two is fairly simple and straightforward: short stories are short, novels are long. Any other difference that we might be able to find between these two genres of narrative is derived in one way or another from this simple fact.

15 But before identifying certain key differences, it is important to understand that both short stories and novels are modern narrative genres, which only emerged in their current forms during the European Renaissance. 8 Of course, people had been telling each other fictional stories in other forms since much earlier and in many other places. Perhaps the two forms that had the strongest influence on the emergence of these modern genres of prose fiction were the Classical epic poems, most particularly Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey , and the Hebrew Bible, which is filled with a wide variety of short stories.

16 During the European Renaissance, these and other influences stimulated many writers to produce fictional narratives in prose using vernacular languages (instead of Latin), so that they could reach a growing audience of readers. These narratives were not intended to be read aloud, like epic poems or other forms of poetry and drama, but silently, as part of an intimate experience between the reader and the text. 9 Initially, these new narratives, inspired in Middle Eastern and Indian storytelling, tended to be short and were often published as a collection, like Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron (1353, Fig. 1.3). Contemporaries referred to them as novelle (singular, novella ), which means ‘new’ in Italian and is a term still in use today to refer to short novels. From the perspective of Western culture, these early novelle are the first modern forms of prose fiction.

17 A little later in the Renaissance, some authors began to extend these novelle into longer stories that occupied the whole book with the adventures of a single protagonist. In this way, what we now call the novel was born. The first modern novel, according to most, is Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605, Fig. 1.4), the tragicomic story of a deluded country squire who tries to revive the heroic lifestyle depicted in fictional books of chivalry. We should not forget, however, that long narratives, similar in many ways to modern novels, had already been written and read in different cultures throughout history. For example, Lucius Apuleius’ The Golden Ass (ca. 170), Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe (2nd century), Murasaki Shikibu’s Tale of Genji (1010), Ramon Llull’s Blanquerna (1283), or Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms (ca. 1321), amongst many others.

Fig. 1.3 Boccaccio, Decameron : ‘The Story of the Marchioness of Montferrat, ’ 15th century.

Bibliothèque nationale de France, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Decameron_BNF_MS_Italien_63_f_22v.jpeg

18 Due to their difference in length, short stories and novels also tend to differ from each other in certain respects:

Short stories need to focus on a few characters, a limited number of environments, and just one sequence of events. They cannot afford to digress or add unnecessary complications to the plot. Density, concentration, and precision are essential elements of good short-story writing.

Novels, on the other hand, can explore many different characters, environments, and events. The story can be enriched with subplots and complications that add perspective, dynamism, and interest to the novel. Characters have room to evolve and the author can introduce digressions and commentary without undermining the form. Scope, breadth, and sweep are essential elements of good novel writing.

Fig. 1.4. Title page of the first edition of Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605).

Biblioteca Digital Hispánica, Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote#/media/File:El_ingenioso_hidalgo_don_Quijote_de_la_Mancha.jpg

19 This does not mean that the novel is better or worse than the short story. They are simply different forms of narrative, both well adapted to achieve their own purposes. While the novel can recreate a fictional world in all its complexity and vastness, the short story is able to shine a sharper light on a particular character or situation.

Fig. 1.5 Semiotic model of narrative.

By Ignasi Ribó, CC BY.

1.4 Story and Discourse

20 The systematic study of narratives in order to understand their structure (how they work) and function (what they are for) is called narratology. 10 This field has developed a set of conceptual tools that allow us to discern with more clarity and precision the process through which narratives are meaningful for writers and readers. Narratology is closely linked with semiotics, the study of meaning-making processes, and in particular the use of signs and signifying systems to communicate meanings. In this sense, it is important to realise that narratological models are not so much concerned with explaining individual narratives, but rather they attempt to identify the underlying semiotic system that makes narrative production and reception possible. 11

21 The semiotic or communicative model of narrative that will be developed in this textbook (see Fig. 1.5) begins by distinguishing the real people who participate in the communicative act of writing and reading (the real author and the real reader) from their textual or implied counterparts.

22 Thus, the ‘implied author’ 12 is not the actual individual who wrote the book, but a projection of that individual in the book itself. For instance, Ernest Hemingway (Fig. 1.6) was born in 1899, wrote novels like The Old Man and the Sea and short stories like ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro, ’ and died in 1961. When we read one of his narratives, we are not listening to him telling us a story (how could we?), but to a virtual persona to whom we can attribute a style, attitudes, and values, based on what we find in the text itself.

23 Similarly, although we are the actual readers, the text does not address us as particular individuals. Otherwise, every book could only have a single intended receiver and the rest of us would be eavesdroppers. But books, unlike letters, are generally addressed to an abstract or generic receiver. We can define the notion of ‘implied reader’ 13 as the virtual persona to whom the implied author is addressing the narrative, as can be deduced from the text itself. When anyone of us, at any time, picks up a Hemingway novel or short story and starts to read it, we are effectively stepping into the shoes of its implied reader.

Fig. 1.6 Ernest Hemingway posing for a dust-jacket photo by Lloyd Arnold for the first edition of For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), at Sun Valley Lodge, Idaho, 1939.

By Lloyd Arnold, Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ErnestHemingway.jpg

24 Once we move into the narrative text itself, which already contains an implied author and an implied reader, both only circumstantially related to human beings in the real world, we need to distinguish two different levels of communication: discourse and story . 14

25 At one level, there is the message that the implied author sends to the implied reader. We will call this message ‘discourse.’ Narrative discourse is the means through which the narrative is communicated by the implied author to the implied reader. It includes elements like:

Narration (narrator and narratee, point of view, etc.)

26 The content of narrative discourse is a ‘story.’ But the story is not told directly by the implied author to the implied reader. It is the narrator (a figure of discourse) who tells the story to a narratee (another figure of discourse). Sometimes, narrators and narratees are also characters in the story, but at other times they are not. Therefore, we cannot say that narrators or narratees are people, nor even characters. Both exist only in narrative discourse. The story, then, is simply what the narrator communicates to the narratee (see Fig. 1.7). It includes elements like:

Fig. 1.7 Semiotic model of narrative shown in speech bubbles.

Events (plot)

Environments (setting)

Characters (characterisation)

27 In the next chapters, we will examine all these elements in more detail. First, we will look at the key elements of story: plot, setting, and characterisation. Then, we will examine the key elements of discourse: narration, language, and theme. While reading these chapters it is important to keep in mind the fundamental distinction between story and discourse, without which many aspects of narrative fiction cannot be properly understood.

1.5 Beyond Literature

28 As we have seen, narratives are not confined to literary works. Certainly, novels and short stories have been the privileged vehicles of storytelling since the European Renaissance until the present day. But the invention of other media, such as cinema, television, or the Internet, has been rapidly changing the way people produce and consume narratives.

29 During the twentieth century, cinema developed into an alternative medium to tell the kind of stories that previously were the domain of novels or plays. Like novels, movies are narratives that present a sequence of events connected by time and cause. Unlike novels, however, movies are not meant to be read, but to be watched. In this sense, movies are like theatre plays: they show a performance of the events, environments, and characters of the story, rather than having a narrator convey those events, environments, and characters through words. Of course, cinema is not completely like drama, because the camera, by selecting and framing the events presented in the narrative, acts in some ways like a narrator. In fact, we may well consider cinema a new narrative form, one that draws both from the epic (prose fiction) and dramatic (stage play) genres. 15

30 The intimate relationship between literary and cinematographic narratives is clearly shown by the fact that many movies have tried to retell the stories found in prose fiction. In general, a narrative based on a story previously presented in a different medium is called an adaptation. In some cases, prose fictions are also adaptations, for example when they take their stories from journalistic accounts, history books, or even movies. Much more common, however, is for movies to attempt to bring successful novels and short stories to the screen. For example, J.K. Rowling’s series of novels about the adventures of the young wizard Harry Potter and his friends has been adapted into popular movies by Hollywood (see Fig. 1.8). Television has also drawn many of its fictions from literary narratives. One example is the adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s series of medieval fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire into a successful television show, Game of Thrones .

Fig. 1.8 Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter.

Photo by Karen Roe, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Making_of_Harry_Potter_29-05-2012_(7528990230).jpg

31 Adaptations are always the subject of passionate debate and controversy. Many attempts to adapt great novels to cinema or television have been negatively received by spectators, who decry the lack of respect for the original story or find the movie less engaging and pleasing than the novel. Less frequently, film adaptations are acclaimed by spectators and critics as superior to the novels or short stories that inspired them.

32 What most people tend to forget is that adaptations are not translations of the original works. Rather, an adaptation is always an interpretation. In the same way that two readers will never read the same novel, because their interpretation of the events, environments, and characters represented in the story will be different, an adaptation is necessarily a subjective reading of the original text. Moreover, adaptations are creative interpretations, because they produce new texts or semiotic representations (cinema, television, comic, videoclip, etc.) driven by their own artistic motivations and structural constraints.

33 The fact is that stories cannot be contained in any particular medium or restricted to any predetermined set of rules. Once they have been told, in whatever form or shape, and as long as people pay attention to them, they become part of our cultural makeup. People are free to read them and use them as they like, whether it is for their own private enjoyment, or to adapt, transform, and share them with others. These adaptations may try to be as faithful as possible to what the adapter thinks is the original intention of the author or the true meaning of the text. But they can also subvert those meanings through irony, humour, and commentary, like the memes that proliferate in the Internet era. At the end of the day, stories are not there to be revered and conserved in a state of purity. They constitute the fundamental means by which we humans give meaning to our world. And as such, they are always open to new interpretations. 16

34 • Narrative is the semiotic representation of a sequence of events, meaningfully connected by time and cause. Literary narratives use written language to represent the connected sequence of events.

35 • There are many ways to classify literary narratives into different genres, according, for example, to the truthfulness of the events (fiction and nonfiction), to the way the story is told (prose and verse), to the length of the story (novel and short story), or to the content of the story (adventure, science-fiction, fantasy, romance, etc.).

36 • Prose fiction is narrative written without a metrical pattern that tells an imaginary or invented story. The most common genres of prose fiction in modern literature are novels and short stories. Novels tend to be much longer than short stories.

37 • The semiotic model of narrative, developed in the field of narratology, makes a key distinction between discourse (how the narrative is conveyed from the implied author to the implied reader) and story (what the narrator tells the narratee).

38 • Prose fictions are part of the manifold narratives that we humans use to communicate relevant meanings to each other through a wide variety of media, such as film, television, comics, etc.

Bibliographie

Des DOI sont automatiquement ajoutés aux références bibliographiques par Bilbo, l’outil d’annotation bibliographique d’OpenEdition. Ces références bibliographiques peuvent être téléchargées dans les formats APA, Chicago et MLA.

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Notes de bas de page

1 See, for example, William Bascom, ‘The Forms of Folklore: Prose Narratives, ’ The Journal of American Folklore , 78: 307 (1965), 3–20.

2 Roland Barthes, ‘Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative, ’ in A Roland Barthes Reader , ed. by Susan Sontag, trans. by Stephen Heath (London: Vintage, 1994), pp. 251–52.

3 Based on Narratology: An Introduction , ed. by Susana Onega Jaén and José Angel García Landa (London: Routledge, 1996), p. 3, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315843018

4 Haiku by Matsuo Bashō, in Daniel Crump Buchanan, One Hundred Famous Haiku (Tokyo: Japan Publications, 1973), p. 87.

5 Haiku by Matsuo Bashō, in Buchanan, p. 88.

6 H. Porter Abbott, The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008), https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511816932

7 See David Lodge, The Art of Fiction: Illustrated from Classic and Modern Texts (New York, NY: Viking, 1993), p. 203.

8 For a detailed history, see Paul Cobley, Narrative (London, UK: Routledge, 2014).

9 Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading (New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2014).

10 See Mieke Bal, Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017).

11 David Herman, Basic Elements of Narrative (Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444305920 ; Jørgen Dines Johansen, Literary Discourse: A Semiotic-Pragmatic Approach to Literature (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002), https://doi . org /10.3138/9781442676725

12 Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1983).

13 Wolfgang Iser, The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995).

14 See Seymour Benjamin Chatman, Reading Narrative Fiction (New York, NY: Macmillan, 1993); Seymour Benjamin Chatman, Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000).

15 See Robert Stam, Film Theory: An Introduction (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000).

16 Umberto Eco, The Open Work (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989).

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• Literary Terms
• Definition & Examples
• When & How to Use Narrative

I. What is a Narrative?

A narrative is a story. The term can be used as a noun or an adjective. As a noun, narrative refers to the story being told. It is the account of events, experiences, and details. It also refers to the story-telling process. As an adjective, it describes the form or style of the story being told.

The adjective use of the word narrative has its roots in the Latin word, narrativus, which means “suited to narration.” The noun usage of the word appeared in the French language in the 15 th century and is defined as “a tale, story.”

Narrative is pronounced (năr′ə-tĭv), or “narr, uh, tive”.

II. Examples of Narrative

If you look at narrative when used as a noun, you will find many examples. Most things written in the first-person are narratives. A novel written from the point of view of the main character is a narrative. The essay you wrote, entitled “What I did on my summer vacation”, was a narrative. An article written by a blogger about his/her experience travelling across the United States on a bicycle would most likely be a narrative.

If you look at narrative when used as an adjective, you will find that it complements just about any form of writing or art. There are narrative poems, narrative works of visual art, narrative essays , or narrative dances. If you can make something tell a story, it is narrative.

III. Types of Narrative

Rather than there being “types” of narrative, narrative, itself, functions as an adjective, transforming other things. The narrative voice, or narrative style can be used to transform virtually anything into a story.

For example:

• Other forms of art can also be considered narratives. You can choreograph a narrative dance or paint a narrative series of pictures. The important element is that your creation tells a story.
• Autobiographies are, essentially, narrative. They are written in the first-person and describe the events of the story-teller’s life.
• Theatrical monologues are narrative. In a monologue, the character tells an intimate story, often addressing the audience, asking questions and seemingly seeking answers from them. In Hamlet’s famous monologue, that begins “To be or not to be,” he is seeking answers to the great philosophical questions of life and death. He is discussing them with himself and the audience, trying to puzzle them out and inviting the audience to do the same.
• Essays can also be narrative. An essay is a literary composition about a single subject. You have probably written many. A narrative essay is simply an essay written in a style that tells a story. They are often personal , anecdotal, and told from the writer’s point of view.

IV. The Importance of using Narrative

Everyone loves a story! Everyone has a story. Everyone wants to tell a story. Everyone can relate to a story. That is why it is important to use narratives.

Narrative is an engaging writing style. It immediately invites your audience into your world and offers them a chance to participate in the story you are telling. A reader can easily get wrapped up in a narrative. It is also a style that invites discussion and participation. By using it you tell your audience that this story is not over. They can take it home and think about it. They can retell it, add to it and change it.

Narratives are social. They are at the heart of how we communicate as social beings. If you look for definitions, descriptions, and discussions of what narratives are, you will find many references to the natural humanity of narratives. They are a part of who we are and how we share that with others.

Have you ever read an article that just bored you to tears? Maybe you thought it was “dry”. (Maybe you feel that way about this article?) There is a good chance the author did not make good use of narrative, and thus never managed to draw you in.

V. Examples of Narrative in Literature

Narratives can be found everywhere in literature. They appear in every style, form, and genre.

Fiction: Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes is the tale of a man who is determined to be a knight. You may remember references to a madman on horseback fighting windmills? This is that book. It is a standard and classic example of a book written in the narrative voice.

Beloved , by Toni Morrison is the tale of an escaped slave, who remains haunted by things in her past. It is another more modern and ground-breaking narrative work.

The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, that popular story about Bilbo Baggins, a fantasy creature called a hobbit who travels through Middle Earth and has unexpected adventures , is also a first-person narrative.

Nonfiction: The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas is the autobiography of a man who was a slave, an abolitionist, a writer and a newspaper editor. It is one of our country’s great historical works and it is written in the narrative voice.

VI. Examples of Narrative in Pop Culture

Narratives are everywhere in popular culture. In fact, popular culture is, in itself, an overarching narrative. It is the system of stories that weave in and out of one another to make up the story of the human race. Culture is open-ended and ever evolving, and that is what makes it a narrative. We participate in our own story, along with those around us, and make it up as we go along.

If we want to look at smaller examples, journalism and the news is an excellent form of narrative. Something happens and someone reports on it. Someone else picks up the story, adds a few details and comments, and publishes that. Then, someone else comes along, follows the same pattern, and the narrative continues.

Even more specifically, headlines have become increasingly narrative with the explosive popularity of social media. Writers try and draw in readers by inviting them into the discussion of a topic. In social media, you have just a few words, and maybe a picture, to interest your audience and get them to open your link. In order to do this, there is a trend to write narrative headlines such as these:

He opened the jar of peanut butter and what he saw will blow your mind.

She gave her toddler a crayon and you will never believe what happened next.

Blogs are also excellent examples of narratives as they include first-person accounts of experiences while inviting comment and conversation from readers.

Music is also a wonderful place to find narratives. People have an innate need to turn their stories in to songs. Turn on your stereo and you will find an endless number of narrative. American Pie by Don McLean is one of the great narrative musical creations in our country’s history. It is written in the first person and tells a cryptic story of the history of our music and a fatal plane crash.

A long long time ago I can still remember how That music used to make me smile And I knew if I had my chance That I could make those people dance And maybe they’d be happy for a while…

VII. Related Terms

Narrator : a person who tells a story or gives an account of something.

Story : a synonym to the word narrative. Some suggest that stories are closed ended with a beginning, middle and end, while narratives are larger open-ended discussions, comprised of stories, with listener participation.

List of Terms

• Alliteration
• Amplification
• Anachronism
• Anthropomorphism
• Antonomasia
• APA Citation
• Aposiopesis
• Autobiography
• Bildungsroman
• Characterization
• Circumlocution
• Cliffhanger
• Comic Relief
• Connotation
• Deus ex machina
• Deuteragonist
• Doppelganger
• Double Entendre
• Dramatic irony
• Equivocation
• Extended Metaphor
• Figures of Speech
• Flash-forward
• Foreshadowing
• Intertextuality
• Juxtaposition
• Literary Device
• Malapropism
• Onomatopoeia
• Parallelism
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Personification
• Point of View
• Polysyndeton
• Protagonist
• Red Herring
• Rhetorical Device
• Rhetorical Question
• Science Fiction
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Synesthesia
• Turning Point
• Understatement
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Current Issue

The Twists and Turns of Language

Natasha Trethewey’s life in poetry and prose

Natasha Trethewey’s Life in Poetry and Prose

A work of biography, an essay on literature and memory and the South, a prose poem full of lyrical dexterity, Trethewey’s latest book is like all of her others: a master study of the self.

If, as Zora Neale Hurston once argued, racial prejudice is a loss not for her but for those who embrace it, then one has to wonder how much the United States has forfeited on account of its perennial anti-Blackness. “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry,” Hurston wrote. “It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” Hurston’s “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” is sprinkled with wry aphorisms like this that slice through the layers of early-20th-century American racism. Riddled with anecdotes and Southern charm, it is also not only about Hurston celebrating her Blackness but turning the mirror back onto white Americans, who, she insists, miss a lot about themselves, too.

Books in review

The house of being.

The art of showing Americans what they have missed and who they are—in particular by offering acute portraits of the South—sits at the center of Natasha Trethewey’s poetry and prose. Her accolades alone testify to her acumen. She is a griot, a former US poet laureate, and a Pulitzer Prize winner. But what has made her so vital to American literature is that she has cast back the image of a fragmented America to her readers not so much to affirm it as to offer a lament, much as Hurston did, for what has been lost—especially in the South.

This sense of hope and loss is fully displayed in her new book, The House of Being . Weaving together memoir and history, poetry and prose, intimate details from her life and more general observations about the South, the book is a testament to Trethewey’s command of language and her willingness to confront those difficult periods in her life that transformed her. A monologue, a work of biography, an essay on literature and memory, a prose poem full of lyrical dexterity, and a reflection on who she is in a society that has actively tried to partition people based on race, The House of Being is ultimately a study of maturation, of becoming an adult, and of how the early experiences of life can shape you for years to come.

Born in Gulfport, Mississippi, in 1966, Trethewey begins her story at the beginning—with her parents’ marriage. Her Black mother, Gwendolyn Ann Turnbough, was from Gulfport; her white father, Eric Trethewey, was from Canada. In 1967, an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, brought a Supreme Court case against Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law, hoping that their marital union could be recognized—and to the surprise of many Americans, they won. But Turnbough and Trethewey had married two years earlier, and the poem “Miscegenation,” which their daughter republishes in The House of Being , captures what was at stake:

In 1965 my parents broke two laws of Mississippi; they went to Ohio to marry, returned to Mississippi.

Trethewey’s subsequent birth, while not illegal in its own right, also posed a provocation to the Southern social order: For if her parents’ marriage was deemed illegitimate in the eyes of the State of Mississippi, so was young Natasha. White people in Mississippi would stare at her parents with detestation, and some would call her “mongrel” and “half-breed.” To overcome their animosity, young Trethewey turned to literature: “I learned then from the experience of Odysseus… that it would take cleverness to outpace whatever obstacles stood before me.” The twists and turns of language captivated her. The sinewy words of her mother and grandmother speaking African American vernacular sparked an unending interest in how humans express themselves. At the same time, she thought she could see how society’s racial hierarchies mapped onto the languages spoken around her.

Trethewey’s first home was an intergenerational amalgamation that included her parents and grandmother. Slightly outside Gulfport’s city limits, the family house was in a community once known as Griswold, land settled by formerly enslaved African Americans after the Civil War. It was in this vicinity that Trethewey and her parents were exposed to the fungibility of a semi-rural landscape: red-wing blackbirds soaring through the sky, cows grazing near her backyard, or even the “cracked shell on an old turtle.”

After her parents divorced, Natasha and her mother moved to Atlanta so that her mother could begin graduate school. While her memories of her father during these years were idyllic, those of her stepfather were different. He physically abused her mother, which Natasha only found out about years later—but even then, she sensed something was wrong, and in the years to come she would be haunted by it. As she writes in her poem “What Is Evidence,”

Not the fleeting bruises she’d cover with make-up, a dark patch as if imprint of a scope she’d pressed her eye too close to, looking for a way out

The worst, however, was still to come: In 1985, her stepfather murdered her mother. These moments of sorrow reappear and add to her unrelenting desire to write about her past.

From these early experiences in a South slowly shedding its Jim Crow past, the young Trethewey became an adult—and a writer. She not only understood “the sanctity of books” but felt at home through the concealments of metaphor and the ambiguities of language. In other words, she also became a poet.

Trethewey studied English literature at the University of Georgia and earned an MFA at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. While her educational course might sound conventional for a contemporary writer, as one probes deeper into her story in The House of Being , one begins to see how unusual her literary education was. Along with her early exposure to her mother and grandmother’s way of speaking, she also had a poet in the family: her father. As a child, Trethewey recalls, her father would read stories to her that “must have taken root in my psyche, establishing early on the pattern to which my own journey would conform.”

The experiences of her mother in the South also contributed to Trethewey’s interest in writing and her skills as a poet. Her mother, she recalls in The House of Being , was always “showing me how to signify, how to use received forms to challenge the dominant cultural narrative of our native geography.”

Flannery O’Connor once wrote: “Where you came from is gone. Where you thought you were going to never was there. And where you are is no good unless you can get away from it.” For Trethewey, the dislocation of her early years led her to find a home in the written word. Poetry became a way to create regions for herself; it was also a way to examine the cyclical anguish, the loss, the trauma, and the hopes of living in a region and a country more generally that was legally and then structurally defined by the experience of race.

Over the years, Trethewey became a memoirist and poet determined to render meaning out of these facts of her life. In her collection Thrall , she probed the afterlife of captivity. In Native Guard , she mourned her mother’s death and considered the Southern world they shared. Lines in her poetry tend to jostle between life and history, relationships and regions, the experience of race and the making of it. The death of her mother would in particular come to haunt her, and she turned to prose to make sense of that, as well. In Memorial Drive , her 2020 memoir, she told the story of her mother’s life and death. A study of her relationship with her mother, the book was also a study of her mother’s relationships, of the moments of domestic bliss and the harrowing ones of domestic violence—about race-making in America and how Black women become vulnerable to abuse. “If I was with my father, I measured the polite responses from white people, the way they addressed him as ‘Sir’ or ‘Mister.’ Whereas my mother would be called ‘Gal,’ never ‘Miss’ or ‘Ma’am,’ as I had been taught was proper.” The polarizing experiences of her parents were part of an accruement of observations about the linguistic practice of racial identity—how people are read or made.

In The House of Being , Trethewey revisits many of these early memories, but from a different angle: She is primarily interested in telling the story of her native region, the South. “The ‘Solid South,’” she writes, “was a society based on the myths of innate racial difference, a hierarchy based on notions of supremacy, the language used to articulate that thinking was rooted in the unique experience of white southerners.” As with her mother’s story, so, too, with the story of the South: It has haunted her ever since she was a young person pushing against the Confederate realities and fictions that persisted in the region—whether through Jim Crow laws or groups like the Daughters of the Confederacy or the monuments memorializing the glory of Southern Civil War generals.

The Nation Weekly

In The House of Being , Trethewey seeks to break through these myths and tell a different story about the South. “I am reminded again of the moment in Black Boy when Richard Wright declares he wants to be a writer,” she writes, “and what it means to have someone with a kind of dominion over you try to diminish you by telling you what you cannot do or be.” Like Wright, and much like Hurston before him, Trethewey wants to show what has been lost by telling only one story about the South, and what might be gained by telling another.

Trethewey does this in several bold and original ways. Literalizing her interest in her home region, she considers how the design of Southern homes was influenced by African and Afro-Caribbean architecture. Her grandmother’s shotgun house conveys a story not just about the period it was made in, but also a much longer history. “The long-house format,” she notes, “is a legacy of West African architecture, brought to America by both free and enslaved peoples who arrived in New Orleans from Haiti, after the Revolution in 1804.”

Trethewey also describes the darker side of the American South during the height of the civil rights movement. One of her first memories of “domestic terrorism” occurred at a young age, well before she congealed every incident that happened during the 1960s. After the African American church adjacent to her grandmother’s house led a voter registration drive in Gulfport, an unknown person (most likely white) burned a cross on the plot of land that bordered the church and her grandmother’s house. This racially coded act of hatred was frightening and had a clear message in terms of the violence it conveyed, but it was also ambiguous: It left Trethewey retroactively wondering whether it was motivated by the voter drive or by her interracial household. Such ghosts stalk The House of Being , rambling through its corridors and stairways. Memories, Trethewey reminds us, raise questions that do not always have answers. The South is a place that is simultaneously welcoming and inimical, a home to millions and yet also a hostile land.

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At times, I wondered if The House of Being needed a more cohesive narrative arc—a clear beginning, middle, and end. The text is often elliptical, circling back on memories and skipping ahead to new and unfamiliar territory. Often it invokes previous books and poems that Trethewey has written, as well as pasts that some of us may need to be more familiar with. This can be invigorating but also frustrating. Yet for Trethewey, the labyrinthine nature of the book is intended to match form with content: Her desire is not to offer a clean and linear narrative. Instead, she wants to tell a story about the South that is full of messiness and confusion. “Writing,” Trethewey notes near the end of the book, “is a way of creating order out of chaos, of taking charge of one’s own story, being the sovereign of the self by pushing back against received knowledge and guarding the sanctity of the dwelling place of the imagination.”

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