A Companion to Narrative Theory [Paperback]

• Comprises 35 original essays written by leading figures in the field
• Includes contributions from pioneers in the field such as Wayne C. Booth, Seymour Chatman, J. Hillis Miller and Gerald Prince
• Represents all the major critical approaches to narrative and investigates and debates the relations between them
• Considers narratives in different disciplines, such as law and medicine
• Features analyses of a variety of media, including film, music, and painting
• Designed to be of interest to specialists, yet accessible to readers with little prior knowledge of the field

Notes on Contributors x

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction: Tradition and Innovation in Contemporary Narrative Theory 1
James Phelan and Peter J. Rabinowitz

Prologue

1 Histories of Narrative Theory (I): A Genealogy of Early Developments 19
David Herman

2 Histories of Narrative Theory (II): From Structuralism to the Present 36
Monika Fludernik

3 Ghosts and Monsters: On the (Im)Possibility of Narrating the History of Narrative Theory 60
Brian McHale

PART I New Light on Stubborn Problems 73

4 Resurrection of the Implied Author: Why Bother? 75
Wayne C. Booth

5 Reconceptualizing Unreliable Narration: Synthesizing Cognitive and Rhetorical Approaches 89
Ansgar F.l³Ü