Narrative criticism

Narrative criticism focuses on the stories a speaker or a writer tells to understand how they help us make meaning out of our daily human experiences. Narrative theory is a means by which we can comprehend how we impose order on our experiences and actions by giving them a narrative form. According to Walter Fisher,[1] narratives are fundamental to communication and provide structure for human experience and influence people to share common explanations and understandings (58). Fisher defines narratives as “symbolic actions-words and/or deeds that have sequence and meaning for those who live, create, or interpret them.” Study of narrative criticism, therefore, includes form (fiction or non-fiction, prose or poetry), genre (myth, history, legend, etc.), structure (including plot, theme, irony, foreshadowing, etc.) characterization, and communicator’s perspective.

Characteristics of a narrative were defined as early as Aristotle in his Poetics under plot.[2] He called plot as the “first principle” or the “soul of a tragedy.” According to him, plot is the arrangement of incidents that imitate the action with a beginning, middle, and end. Plot includes introduction of characters, rising action and introduction of complication, development of complication, climax (narrative), and final resolution. As described by White (1981)[3] and Martin (1986),[4] plot involves a structure of action. However, not all narratives contain a plot. Fragmentation occurs as the traditional plot disappears, narratives become less linear, and the burden of meaning making gets shifted from the narrator to the reader.[5]

Narratives can be found in a range of practices such as novels, short stories, plays, films, histories, documentaries, gossip, biographies, television and scholarly books.[6] All of these artifacts make excellent objects for narrative criticism. When performing a narrative criticism, critics should focus on the features of the narrative that allow them to say something meaningful about the artifact. Sample questions from Sonja K Foss[7]Template:Pg.312-313 offer a guide for analysis:

References

  1. Fisher, Walter (1987), Human Communication as Narration: Toward a Philosophy of Reason, Value, and Action, Columbia: U of South Carolina P.
  2. Aristotle, "VI–VII", Poetics.
  3. White, H (1981), Mitchell, WJT, ed., "The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Culture", On Narrative, Chicago: U of Chicago Press.
  4. Martin, W (1986), Recent Theories of Narrative, Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP.
  5. McGee, Michael Calvin; Nelson, John S; Sizemore, Michael (1990), Narrative Reason in Public Argument.
  6. Jasinski, James (2001), Sourcebook on Rhetoric, California: Sage.
  7. Foss, Sonja K (2004), Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice, Illinois: Waveland.
  8. Yee, Gale. Judges and Method: New Approaches in Biblical Studies. Minneapolis, Fortress, 2007.

External links

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