Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method [Paperback]

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

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0801492599 | ISBN-13: 978-0801492594 | Publication Date: December 1979

Gerard Genette builds a systematic theory of narrative upon an anlaysis 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.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (December 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801492599
• ISBN-13: 978-0801492594
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #222,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Seminal Work in Narrative Theory, February 24, 2002

By 

Adirondack Views (Lake Placid, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method (Paperback)

This book should be required reading for anyone who wants to look seriously at narrative theory. Genette's analysis of the construction of time in narrative discourse is the still the model for theorists writing since then. Such categories as order, frequency, and duration in the narrative presentation of story-time show how narrative decisions on the part of authors can have dramatically different rhetorical effects. Genette views these narrative strategies as a form of rhetorical figuration and gives them terms drawn from classical rhetoric (e.g., "prolepsis" for a flashing forward, "analepsis" for a flashback). Genette's work is one of the clearest of all the French theorists of the 1970s and 1980s who became popular among literary critics and theorists in the US. His work is easily the most empirical of his academic geration of French theorists and perhaps the most likely to be useful in generations to come.

8 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a must for any writer, November 8, 2005

By 

Paul Gahlinger, MD, PhD (Salt Lake City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method (Paperback)

I have had 5 books published (nonfiction) and have been working on a novel. I wish I had studied this book when I was a student. It is superb--essential, in my opinion, for anyone writing fiction. It is not, however, an easy read.

Besides being a writer, I am also a doctor and a commercial aircraft pilot. This book reminds me of getting an instrument rating, when "the lights come on" in understanding aviation. For the first time, I feel that I truly understand the nature of narrative.