Story Logic: Problems and Possibilities of Narrative (Frontiers of Narrative) - Softcover

Herman, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803273428 ISBN 13: 9780803273429

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 2004

Synopsis

Featuring a major synthesis and critique of interdisciplinary narrative theory, Story Logic marks a watershed moment in the study of narrative. David Herman argues that narrative is simultaneously a cognitive style, a discourse genre, and a resource for writing. Because stories are strategies that help humans make sense of their world, narratives not only have a logic but also are a logic in their own right, providing an irreplaceable resource for structuring and comprehending experience.

Story Logic brings together and pointedly examines key concepts of narrative in literary criticism, linguistics, and cognitive science, supplementing them with a battery of additional concepts that enable many different kinds of narratives to be analyzed and understood. By thoroughly tracing and synthesizing the development of different strands of narrative theory and provocatively critiquing what narratives are and how they work, Story Logic provides a powerful interpretive tool kit that broadens the applicability of narrative theory to more complex forms of stories, however and wherever they appear. Story Logic offers a fresh and incisive way to appreciate more fully the power and significance of narratives.

About this title

About the Author

David Herman is a professor of English at North Carolina State University and an adjunct professor of linguistics at Duke University. He is the author of Universal Grammar and Narrative Form and the editor of Narratologies: New Perspectives on Narrative Analysis.

From the Inside Flap

"This in-depth inquiry examines issues and complications involved in analysis of narrative. It is thoughtfully and clearly laid out . . . . Ideas . . . are always carefully explained. Well documented with notes, extensive bibliography, and sound index, this volume is highly recommended for academic libraries serving serious students of narratology."--Choice.

Featuring a major synthesis and critique of interdisciplinary narrative theory, Story Logic marks a watershed moment in the study of narrative. David Herman argues that narrative is simultaneously a cognitive style, a discourse genre, and a resource for writing. Because stories are strategies that help humans make sense of their world, narratives not only have a logic but also are a logic in their own right, providing an irreplaceable resource for structuring and comprehending experience.

Story Logic brings together and pointedly examines key concepts of narrative in literary criticism, linguistics, and cognitive science, supplementing them with a battery of additional concepts that enable many different kinds of narratives to be analyzed and understood. By thoroughly tracing and synthesizing the development of different strands of narrative theory and provocatively critiquing what narratives are and how they work, Story Logic provides a powerful interpretive tool kit that broadens the applicability of narrative theory to more complex forms of stories, however and wherever they appear. Story Logic offers a fresh and incisive way to appreciate more fully the power and significance of narratives.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803273428
• ISBN 13: 9780803273429
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 500