English 5343. Studies in Literary Criticism
Spring 2007: Developments in Narrative Theory
Abbott’s Cambridge Introduction to Narrative will supply current bearings on the topic, Genette’s Narrative Discourse knowledge of a classic study in the structuralist tradition. Bal’s Narratology will lay out the state of the art in systematic literary narratology, while Ryan’s Avatars of Story will advance the theory of narrative from old to new media. Surveying these developments in narrative theory since the 1960s, while sampling a range of postmodern narrative fictions—Lost in the Funhouse, Memento, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Demon Theory, and Patchwork Girl—our aim is to broaden and reinforce students’ grasp of critical and creative narrative practice.
Policies, assessments, outcomes
Texts:
H. Porter Abbott, Cambridge Introduction to Narrative (Cambridge)
John Barth, Lost in the Funhouse (Anchor)
James Phelan, “Narrative Theory 1966-2006: A Narrative”
Gerard Genette, Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method (Cornell)
Christopher Nolan, Memento (Columbia Tristar)
Michel Gondry, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Universal/Dreamworks)
François Jost, “The Look: From Film to Novel”
David Allen Black, “Genette and Film: Narrative Level in the Fiction Cinema”
Mieke Bal, Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative, 2nd. ed (Toronto)
Stephen Graham Jones, Demon Theory (MacAdam/Cage)
Marie-Laure Ryan, Avatars of Story (Minnesota)
Shelley Jackson, Patchwork Girl (Eastgate Systems)