Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film - Softcover

Chatman, Seymour

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080149186X ISBN 13: 9780801491863

Publisher: Cornell University Press, 1980

Synopsis

"An important American contribution to the study of narrative theory."―Choice

This book is the first comprehensive approach in English to a general theory of narrative, both in verbal and in visual media.

The primary question to which Professor Chatman addresses himself is what narrative is in itself. Following such French structuralists as Roland Barthes, Tzvetan Todorov, and Gerard Genette, he posits a what and a way. "The what of narrative," he says, "I call its 'story'; the way, I call its 'discourse.'" Liberally illustrating his concepts with discussions of particular novels and films, he effects a synthesis of the latest Continental critical thinking about narrative and the Anglo-American tradition exemplified by Henry James, Percy Lubbock, Wayne Booth, and others.

A judicious and well-informed book, Story and Discourse should become a standard guide to narrative and to modern thinking about narrative.

About this title

About the Author

Seymour Chatman is Professor of Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley.

From the Back Cover

Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. 'For the specialist in the study of narrative structure, this is a solid and very perceptive exploration of the issues salient to the telling of a story-whatever the medium. Chatman, whose approach here is at once dualist and structuralist, divides his subject into the 'what' of the narrative (Story) and the 'way'(Discourse)... Chatman's command of his material is impressive.'

Edition details

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Publication date: 1980
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080149186X
• ISBN 13: 9780801491863
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288