Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method

by Gerard Genette, Jane E. Lewin (Translator), Jonathan Culler (Foreword by)

Overview

Gerard Genette, a critic of international stature, here builds a systematic theory of narrative upon an analysis of the writings of Marcel Proust, particularly Remembrance of Things Past. Adopting what is essentially a structuralist approach, the author identifies and names the basic constituents and techniques of narrative and illustrates them by referring to literary works in many languages.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801410994
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	12/31/1979
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.06(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Gérard Genette is the author of many books, including four published in translation by Cornell. Sylvie Courtine-Denamy is a French philosopher and author of Hannah Arendt. G. M. Goshgarian is the translator of several books from Cornell, including The Jew and the Other and Three Women in Dark Times: Edith Stein, Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Jonathan Cutler
Translator's Preface
PrefaceIntroduction
1. Order
2. Duration
3. Frequency
4. Mood
5. VoiceAfterword
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"This book is generally considered one of the most- significant contributions to literary criticism in the 1970's, and it is almost essential or anyone doing serious study of narrative. The book is difficult and introduces a great deal of terminology, some of which has already been adopted by critics. It is well organized and systematic, a good example of what Robert Pirsig called the classical manner, a whole divided into its subordinate parts, those parts being further subdivided. To illustrate the use of his narrative analysis Genette applies it to Proust's Remembrance of Things Past and provides us with an insight into that great series." —Lawrence J. Gorman

From the Publisher